My hands-down biggest in-law stressor is diet -- and even then, it usually doesn't bug me right off the bat. At first, I just do my own thing at meals and try not to say anything to draw attention to myself. They eat donuts for breakfast while I eat a fat-free yogurt. They eat pizza for lunch while I eat carrots and hummus. They eat "onion soup" made from dissolved Wonder bread in beef broth for dinner; I eat a chicken breast and veggies.

Then around day three something happens. Maybe I run out of my personal groceries and have no healthy food left and no time to run out and get something. Or maybe we go out to a buffet restaurant where they eat for upwards of three hours. Or maybe I just get sick of being teased about being such a weirdo for eating vegetables. But sooner or later I always snap. Luckily, I tend to do so in private. I cry and complain to my husband that I feel both judged and full of judgment, that I don't understand how "those people" can survive on nothing but white flour and sugar, that I wish they'd stop monitoring what I eat (yes, I am aware of my own hypocrisy). I usually recover fairly quickly after the mandatory meltdown, which is great because my in-laws are awesome people, and I'd hate to either hurt their feelings or make them uncomfortable. But my goal is to get through a single trip without this unnecessary inner drama.

So far, I've been enjoying my time with them -- and am getting way better at minding my own business when it comes to their diets. So...yay for growth...maybe? But my mother-in-law did make something called a "congealed salad" today. Shudder.

PS: Next week we go to my parents’ house, where Jack will get his chance to vent about his weird in-laws.