Chip Chick
Over the last couple of months, this 42-year-old woman and her husband, 37, have been organizing a trip.
The plan was for them to book a flight with their 12-year-old daughter so that they could spend Thanksgiving with her husband’s mother, his sisters, and their families.
Her mother-in-law hoped that they could visit her this past summer, but they were too busy for that, so they decided to visit over Thanksgiving instead.
However, as Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, she feels less and less thrilled about the trip.
Unfortunately, she feels uneasy around her husband’s family.
Since she was 19-years-old, she has suffered from chronic illness. She and her husband got married 15 years ago, so she was experiencing illness well before she met his family, but they have sadly been extremely judgmental and skeptical of her experiences with chronic illness, especially over the last several years, as her symptoms have worsened.
“They’ve always subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) treated me like I’m a hypochondriac who exaggerates her illness. My illness is a ‘but you don’t look sick’ illness, but it has affected my entire life very negatively, and I hate it so much,” she said.
Her in-laws occasionally act sympathetic when her husband sticks up for her, but their behavior hasn’t improved much.
Then, in 2020, her husband and his sisters butted heads about politics. She and her husband lean more to the left than his sisters do, and they have said some offensive things that stick with her to this day.
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