My former mother-in-law

[noamnety]

My ex inlaws in Michigan were refugees from Poland and WWII camps. I remember visiting them once in the 80's, not so long after I married into the family. They had just gotten a letter from a relative in Poland and wanted my mother-in-law's sister in the next town over to read it. They gave it to us when we were driving over to visit her. I grabbed it in my hand and started to head out the door. My mother in law stopped me in a panic, took the letter, and tucked it into a newspaper which she folded up so nobody could see we were transporting a letter from Poland. She insisted we carry it that way.

She was old and had some PTSD from things she had lived through. I knew it was stupid, but I went along with it because it wasn't worth arguing about. How are you going to convince an old woman who spent her whole life in that culture that the government in America really isn't tracking who sent her a letter, not even if it came from a foreigner?

I laughed about it on the drive to her sister's house and I know it doesn't reflect well on me, but I felt more than a little smug and superior to her because of her foolishness with that letter.

[southernyankeebelle]

1. Bet you aren't laughing now.

[noamnety]

4. not so much.

I owe her an apology, but she's not around anymore.

[southernyankeebelle]

6. We all could of learned something from her. Believe me am not laughing either.

[Downwinder]

2. You will learn.

[noamnety]

5. The sad part is

I was an intel weenie at the time and still didn't get it.

[Jenoch]

3. I had relatives in the Soviet Union

and there were times when letters went through and times when they did not. Apparently it was important to send the letters with postage metered by the post office instead of an obvious American stamp. Usually the postage just said 'airmail'.

My father and his brother went back to the old country in 1992 just a year after the breakup. They went with a cousin who emigrated after WWII. He was about 70 and scared shitless they were going to keep him and not let him out of the country. This cousin was in a German forced labor camp with his wife, MIL, and young son. Unless you've experienced some of the horrors it is hard to understand.