One day I woke up in the middle of the night and saw my mother-in-law leaning over me and quietly whispering my name.

I know that I am not the only one, but for some reason it seems that I was not lucky with my mother-in-law more than others. People are different and rub each other for a long time, for several years. I cherished the hope that this moment would come, but recently I realized that this will not happen. Funny to say, but the last straw was the book that my husband’s mother bought at the flea market. The book is called “How to Dream in a Dream.” As you can see, I was chosen for my subsequent experiments.



You can easily guess that this is not the most ordinary woman. She is fond of esoteric practices, goes to fortune tellers and reads horoscopes for every day. The worst part is that she's dragging me and Anton into it. Before we started living together, it seemed like a fun hobby. I don't think so now. After all, her desire to learn how to dream a person in a dream seems to have destroyed our family.

Do not think, I am a non-conflict person and between clarifying relationships or a quiet compromise I will always choose the second. Natalia Stepanovna often spoke positively about the fact that she has a “quiet daughter-in-law”, but I really just did not want to argue with her and spoil relations. All three of us live together, and this is, after all, the mother of my husband, whom I love and respect.

I met Anton at school when my mother and I moved to another city. It was so long ago, but I still remember our youth in great detail - first love, first relationship, valentines on February 14 and my first bouquet of flowers. Then we parted with him for some teenage stupidity, and the second time we met in the magistracy. It began to spin, to turn – I did not even notice how a few more years of our journey together flew by.



I know for sure that Anton is my destiny, we often joke about it. Over the years, we have converged and diverged, but things systematically went to the wedding. Although we disagreed at first, I had no doubt about my choice. Anton, though with character, but a man very worthy. From an early age, he already worked in a car repair shop, gave half the money to his family, dreamed of his own business and still built it almost from scratch. Now he has his own auto parts store.

When I married him, he was already a respected master, but then he still worked for his uncle. However, this did not prevent him from building a house for himself and his mother, as well as saving money for our wedding. He refused my investment because I could not afford the salary of a primary school teacher. I lived with my parents until I was 26.



Unsplash Life with Mother-in-law The wedding was modest but beautiful. Close friends and relatives, I wear a snow-white dress - lush as sea foam! Our happiness had no limit. My mother-in-law welcomed me very warmly at first, although we only saw each other a few times during the holidays.

And after the wedding, the three of us – me, Anton and my mother – began to live together. And all the hospitality somehow dissolved. Now I realize that all those smiles and joy were false. The mother-in-law, who is soon retiring, now has not life, but a fairy tale: she lives with her beloved son in a beautiful and large house, she has her own garden, her own cat and is full of space for her spiritualistic sessions, which she also enjoys. Only I don't fit into the picture of her perfect life.



Then the powder with the wrong smell will buy, then the food is salted or undersalted, then my borscht is liquid, then thick. She even tried to criticize my style of dress several times, but Anton stopped her in time. He just said, "Mom, don't." And Natalia Stepanovna immediately calmed down. However, she did not last long, and after a couple of days she again continued to peck at me for every little thing. I have already complained to Anton, but he says that she is not used to me, I am a little stranger to her. Oh, yeah! It's been 4 years, even I'm used to it.

I'm not talking about my mother-in-law's hobbies. As soon as one of us gets a little sick, the egg rolling begins. The house is full of strange things: some stones, incense and talismans, which Natalia Sergeevna shoved in all corners. Her favorite story, which she tells at every opportunity, about how she pulled Toshenka from the dead. Someone allegedly put a strong evil eye on his son when he was young. Since then, she has been fascinated by this.



Unsplash Last straw I tried not to pay attention to it. What a hobby a person can have. For example, I like to weave beads and knit on long winter evenings. My husband also shrugged off my mother's oddities. First of all, he's got used to them. He just doesn’t believe in them, like me. But the last time his mother clearly crossed the line.

A few days ago, I noticed a new book by Carlos Castaneda on the kitchen table. It was called "The Ways of Knowledge." Since then, the mother-in-law only talked about the author. Allegedly, this is a well-known esoteric practitioner who learned from Indian monks. She was most interested in astral travel during sleep. She wondered how to dream in a dream. Soon we had more literature of this kind.



Unsplash I wake up one day from the fact that my mother-in-law stands above me and whispers: “Verochka, Verochka, Verochka.” I screamed as if my husband jumped up, instantly rose to his feet. I thought the thief had snuck into the house, he even waved something, and then realized that it was his mother. It became obvious to me that this was the last straw. That at last my suffering will end, and Anton will put his mother in her place. But no.

The next day he was the one who protected his mother. "You understand," he tells me. My mom just wanted to see if it was written in the book. It turns out that in this unfortunate book, one of the ways to dream of a person in a dream was the following: “The object in which you want to plunge into sleep should be in the stage of deep sleep, preferably at night; you should stand above the object and quietly call it by its name, imagining in minute detail with closed eyes what this person looks like.” It seems innocent nonsense, but I'm scared of something else. What did Natalia Stepanovna need in my head?



This time I decided to show character, packed a suitcase and went to my parents while Anton was at work. It was just unbearable to watch his mother-in-law protect himself. Despite all my love for him, all the years together, he didn’t care that his mother would go to some experiments on me. It’s just a silly hobby for him.

It's been a few days. And I am doubly offended that my husband does not write and call me. If I felt guilty, I would have called by now. So he doesn't care? And I don’t want to write to him first, because it will look stupid: I left myself. What if he doesn't write at all? When I left, I did not think at all that he could choose Natalia Stepanovna between me and my mother. It's scary to call, wait, too. I don’t know whether to come home with a complete defeat or wait.