I honestly do not even know how to start this because I am still deeply embarrassed, still so angry, and still kind of nauseous about the whole terrible thing. I just need to know if I completely lost it, or if any sane person would have reacted exactly the same way I did.
My MIL, Lorraine, came to stay with us for a week. She has always been… a lot. She is the kind of person who gives you a “fake nice” vibe but also constantly comments on literally everything you do. She has this truly weird habit of touching stuff that is not hers. I once caught her opening my private nightstand, and she said she was “just checking the craftsmanship.” Whatever that means to her. Anyway, I usually always lock our bedroom door when I leave for work because I know she snoops. But yesterday, I completely forgot to lock it. I am truly kicking myself for that huge mistake now.
I got home a little after five, walked toward the bedroom, and heard a small thud sound. I swear my stomach instantly dropped into the floor. I opened the door and… I still truly cannot believe this actually happened in my own home. She was calmly sitting right at my vanity. She looked like she lived there. She had all my makeup spread out everywhere. And she was vigorously using my favorite moisturizer, the ridiculously expensive one I saved up for because my skin freaks out with anything else. She had her fingers dug right into it like she was icing a whole cake. Half the expensive jar was already gone. My foundation? Open. My lipstick? Smashed like she had actually stepped on it.
She looked directly at me in the mirror and, I swear, said, “Oh, do not worry, I sanitized the brushes!” Like that fixes absolutely anything she had done. I just froze for a second because the scene was so unreal and violating. Then I managed to say, “What are you doing?” Not even yelling, just utterly shocked. She rolled her eyes and said, “Relax, you are so territorial. It is just makeup.”
Just makeup? She illegally went through my private drawers. She saw stuff that is absolutely none of her business. And this was not cheap drugstore stuff, this was the good, expensive stuff I personally paid for. I sighed and simply managed to say, “Get out of here right now.”
Then Caleb, my husband, walked in because he heard us, and immediately she started crying. Full-on shaking shoulders, fake sobs: “She attacked me for trying to bond with her.” And Caleb… he did not defend me at all. He just immediately hugged her. I felt something truly break inside me at that moment.
Later that night, after she “suddenly got a headache from all the stress,” I told Caleb she urgently needed to leave. ASAP. He told me I was being entirely dramatic, that I “should try harder to get along with her.” Try harder? She violated my privacy and destroyed things I paid for with my money.
So this morning, I firmly told her she absolutely had to pack her stuff and leave. I was completely calm. She made a loud, dramatic sigh like I was ruining her entire life and told Caleb she did not feel safe around me. Safe. Around me. Because I asked her not to steal my moisturizer?
Long story short: she left my house, Caleb is now completely pissed at me, his sister texted me a long paragraph basically calling me unstable, and I have been sitting here all day wondering if I wildly overreacted or if everyone around me has suddenly gone completely insane. Was I wrong for kicking her out? Or is this just one of those terrible times where setting a clear boundary makes you look like the villain no matter what? I feel guilty, but also really grossed out. And I hate that I am constantly second-guessing myself now.
