My MIL loves to talk about how little my SIL is. It’s a major topic of discussion, and it’s weird. We can all see that she’s short. The family talks about it so much that my niece aspires to be little just like her mom, because being little is weirdly glorified. My niece is a very cute but normal-sized 8th grader, but she’s always talking about how little she is. It’s sweet that she wants to be just like her mom (although the family would probably think that part of it was weird since they don’t seem to care about the bond between mothers and their children). I just think it’s weird that in this family, my SIL has made being a short person her whole personality, and everyone else treats it like it’s just the ultimate quality that everyone wants and only my SIL has. Who would want to be that weirdly small? Why is something that is immutable, that you can’t choose or change about yourself, the ultimate quality to care about?
We have to relive the moment years ago when my SIL was on a plane and the flight attendant referred to her husband as her “daddy.” There was the time she played softball and was the smallest one. Every time there’s something tiny, my MIL has to compare it to my SIL. We have to relive these stories again and again. My BIL extols the tininess of her feet. Meanwhile everyone acts like my kids are giants when they’re just normal height. This family talks about height, and who is tall and who is short, all the time. And the subtext is always that short is better. No wonder my niece aspires to it.
My feet are actually smaller than my SIL’s and my neice’s, but I have never made a big deal about it because I’m not weird. Even though for 16 years I’ve been hearing about how small SIL’s feet are.
So this morning my niece complemented my shoes and I thanked her but mentioned my ankle socks didn’t come up high enough in the back and I was afraid my shoes would rub agains the back of my ankles. My niece said she had some socks that would come up higher and they’d “definitely fit me because [she] wears a 7.” She said this as if my feet would obviously be bigger than hers, but I wear a 6.
I put on the socks. The heel is halfway up the back of my leg and the socks look ridiculous, because of the uncomfortable truth that my feet are smaller than my SIL’s and neice’s. I’m grateful because now my shoes won’t rub up against my ankles, but it’s just annoying. In a normal family, we could all laugh at the weird way my socks are too big, but in this family we can’t because my SIL is the only one who’s allowed to have small feet and hers have to be the smallest out of everyone’s, even though they’re not. If the tables were turned and she were the one wearing socks that were too big, we would never hear the end of it and my MIL would have to point it out and laugh about it all day and for the rest of our lives. “Remember those socks that [SIL] wore in St. Louis?” We would never hear the end of it. I wish I were exaggerating. It is exactly the stupid sort of thing they would make a big deal about, if it were my SIL.
I know it’s such a dumb thing to notice or complain about. This family is just so weird. Everything is backwards. They don’t value mothers but they do value my SIL’s smallness, above all else.
Oh and my niece told a story about the ride here. She said Fun Sink gave my FIL a “savage burn.” They were going over a bridge that said “weight limit” and Fun Sink said FIL better get out of the car. I actually think that is a mean thing to say. Also my FIL is really a small man; no one could ever accuse him of being fat. He eats really, really healthy, to an annoying degree. It’s just like Fun Sink to take a cheap shot that’s actually mean, and not even true, and think she’s making a funny joke.
She is just an unhappy person. I know this sock thing is not my strongest argument against my family. I know socks are boring. My point is it’s part of a weird pattern of commenting on people’s sizes.
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