My almost Mother-In-Law

Four and a half years ago I broke up with a man I almost married. We had dated for nearly 3 years and had lived together for just over 2 years of our relationship. His mother had 5 boys and not one of them were married. She was determined to have me be her daughter-in-law.

After our break-up she would call me on a daily basis. A few weeks after this habit developed I let my answering machine talk to her. As she continued to call months after our break-up I actually blocked her phone number from being able to call my home.

Last night was the first time in the last 4 1/2 years I've seen her. She appeared on my doorstep as a potential buyer for my home that is now for sale. When I opened the door I didn't even recognize her.

"Courtney?," she asked as I stood there with the door open and a blank look on my face.

"Holy shit, Karen!," was my reply.

I invited her in and she called in the rest of the passengers in her car......her boyfriend and her mother. I sat in my living room wanting to be a spectator to this conversation rather than a member of it. Karen let me know her mother had moved to Utah from Florida and was looking for a house for the 3 of them to live in. She also let me know that my ex's brother's ex lived around the corner from me and had seen my house was for sale. Karen wanted to come take a walk through and was considering buying my home. I sat there listening to her talk about her life. I smiled at the right moments and asked questions as she spewed out her current life story.

She even showed me pictures of my Ex's children and of course his current photo. I told her how cute her grand-kids are while wondering what it would take to get her out of my house. As if that wasn't enough info to give me, Karen even took the time to tell me she had been at my Ex's house for dinner that night and he didn't come home on his lunch break. She told me how much that upset his wife and how she wasn't sure about their marriage.

Her mom hugged me like 5 times and as they were finally leaving actually told me she could be my grandmother-in-law. There were many choice phrases running through my head that I could have said to her, however the one that actually came out was to tell her that there wasn't anybody left in her family for me to marry.

I walked them to the door and as I locked the door behind them and stood in my home I realized why my realtor had said all appointments for walk-throughs should be referred to him. I also realized how glad I was to not actually be a member of that family.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so polite and let them in and let them say what they wanted. I didn't need an update on my Ex's life. On purpose I failed to mention to my almost mother-in-law that one of my best friends works with her now daughter-in-law. She is quite open with my friend and lets her know how terrible her marriage is. She lets my friend know how unhappy they are as well as other details my friend wishes would be left out. We've had a few good laughs over that status of their marriage. It's a little bitchy of us, sure, but try being the woman he broke up with because he didn't want to get married and have children and find out 8 months later he's getting married and the soon to be wife is pregnant. Having a laugh at their life isn't as bad as the pain he put me through in my opinion.

Never seeing the Ex or their family after a break-up is not a bad thing. I always planned to run into this Ex of mine in the grocery store or a movie theater or maybe even the gas station. I had planned to have that awkward moment where you run into each other and don't know what to say except hello and keep walking. But for the last 4 1/2 years I've managed not to. Not even once. I've not even seen members of his family in all this time. Don't get me wrong people, I don't hate this man or his family. Sure I may get a laugh out of how bad his marriage is, but I loved him and there is a part of me that always will. He helped me get to know myself and was my best friend for a few years of my life that were quite difficult. In the end, we wanted different lives.

And so we went our separate ways. I just wish that had continued forever.

And another thing, isn't it kind of creepy or weird to anybody else that my almost mother-in-law is looking to possibly buy my home? Wouldn't that be weird for my Ex to come visit his mom in the house we had once lived in? Creepy to me. Just sick, sick, sick.