Family is invaluable, but you can never be sure what’s happening in your family members’ heads.

While disagreements and rough patches are inevitable, their unwavering support gives us a sense of security and love.

• My husband travels a lot for his work, and I stay home with the baby and work remotely.

  As soon as my husband leaves, I start getting calls from his parents. Every day. Apparently, they think that I’ll get bored and go on a bender if they don’t.

  And they can’t even think of what to say to me, which is annoying.

  Now, as soon as I see their numbers on the screen, I let my daughter answer. And the grandmother is captured by a chatty 5-year-old, while Mum can work. Now the calls have become much less frequent. Why, why? We still have so much more to say about Lady Bug and the like! © Overheard / Ideer

• I feel like a fool. All my life, I’ve been laughing first at my mother and sister, then at my wife, that they always make too much filling for a pie.

  There’s always some of it left, so I can nibble on it while the pie is in the oven.

  I always thought they were just unable to measure food properly.
  But yesterday I overheard my wife telling our daughter, “Make more filling. Daddy likes it very much. He always waits for it with a spoon.” © adedas / Pikabu

• My mother-in-law is constantly bringing my wife books, and often they are the same book.

  She has given her no less than 5 copies of the same book sometimes. © LearningLifeAsIGo / Reddit

• If my in-laws pick us up something from the store, we need to pay them exactly what it costs. $12.42, $16.81, etc. If it came to $12.81, and we had $13.00 total, they would give us back the 19 cents. Also, if we get stuff for them, we receive the exact money in cash. $7.82, $11.41, etc.

  Christmas? Yeah, we all have to get as close as humanly possible to spending the exact amount on each other.

  If I spend $12 on my father-in-law, and we were only supposed to spend $10, rest assured I’ll be getting $2 in the mail shortly.

  We have them over for dinner, and we get a pizza, they will figure out how much their slices cost.

  So if the pie came to $12.50 and there were 8 slices, and they have 4 total, yep we’re getting $6.24 from them.

  Doesn’t matter how much we insist on not taking money. It’s comical at this point, but still so weird. © JV316 / Reddit

• My mother got offended when she found out that we were going on holiday with my husband’s parents.

  Yeah, we’re taking them to watch our kids. Also, because it was my husband’s dream to take his parents to the sea.

  And because it’s my husband who’s paying for his parents’ holiday.

  And now she doesn’t talk to me… © Overheard / Ideer

• My boyfriend’s family stores all of the bath towels in the parents’ bathroom.

  Every time one of the kids wanted to take a shower, they would go to their parents’ room, take a towel, shower, and then return it. © Unknown author / Reddit

Yeah, well. Towels seem to disappear so I know how that feels

• I once met a girl at a party, and we woke up together. She ran away in the morning because she was late, while I had a leisurely breakfast and took a bath.

  Then I saw her earrings on the table.

  They were vintage and heavy. She had mentioned that they were her great-grandmother’s.

  I put them in my pocket and went to her home to return them.

  A pretty lady in a robe who looked like her mother opened the door. “Please give these to Julia,” I said. She flinched, hesitantly took the earrings, and looked at me funny.

  “She forgot them at my place yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  Pause.

  “But Julia died 6 years ago!”

  I stood frozen, not knowing what to say. But at that moment, Julia ran out of somewhere, shouting indignantly, “Mum! Stop making fun of him!” The mum laughed and invited me to coffee. That’s how I met my future mother-in-law. © Serdobol / Pikabu

• My wife’s family uses “seen” instead of “saw”. I’ve never heard them say “I saw it” instead of “I saw it”. © Unknown author / Reddit
• All the food is specifically someone’s food. Can I have some chips?

  No, those are my dad’s chips.

  Can I have a glass of orange juice?

  Nope, it’s my mom’s orange juice.

  It works for them but seems completely selfish and unreasonable to me. © Unknown author / Reddit

I say seen, like “I have seen that movie” my wife says saw. No im not that proper of an English speaker, I say crick instead of creek.

• My mum: “You got a natural manicure again. For once, you should get something bright.

  Why do you even pay for this?” Also, my mum: goes and gets a manicure that is an exact copy of mine. © jemappellelala / Twitter

• I’m in a traffic jam. In the car on the left, there is a kid of about 9 years old sitting in the back seat with the window down.

  His face is very serious, but I’m in a playful mood, the sun is shining and music is playing. So, I stuck out my tongue.

  A moment later, the front tinted window goes down, and the father is driving, the mother is in the passenger seat, a girl of about 5 looks from behind the boy, and the whole family sticks their tongues out at me!

  My mood was great for the rest of the day. © oseledich / Pikabu

• I ran out of the apartment because I was late for work, then realized I had forgotten to take my phone. I went back up to the fourth floor, opened the door… My girlfriend was standing there with my phone in her hands and her phone near her ear, “Good that you remembered about your phone so quickly,” she said; “I was going to call you.” © balnnspb / Pikabu

• Mum: How are you?

  Me: I’m fine.

  Mum: You’re always fine, you never tell me anything.

  Me: My business is not so good, renovations in the house will never end, I’m dating a girl who believes in reptilians.

  Mum: Why are you telling me this? Do you want me to have a heart attack? © Jeniay / Pikabu

• My half-sister’s husband left her for a co-worker of mine. The sister demanded that I fired her, or, at least, accused her of something and framed her.

  Does this mean that I should break the law and deprive myself of a highly qualified specialist just because the man chose that girl over my sister?

  My sister and mum said that I betrayed them and that they didn’t want to see me again. Why is it my fault?

  The only person who supported me was my stepfather. © Overheard / Ideer

• I practically don’t eat meat. I’m not a vegetarian, I just don’t find it particularly tasty.

  And my in-laws are fans of “meat wrapped in meat” type of food.

  At family celebrations, I tend to eat only vegetables because even their salads and pies usually contain meat.

  But recently I realized that they had finally accepted all my habits when they made a huge bowl of vegetable salad specifically for me at my mother-in-law’s anniversary! © Overheard / Ideer