I saw the movie---Monster-in-law, which was about the war between two women---- a wife to be and a mother-in-law to be.

Charlie, a pretty girl, fell in love with a handsome surgeon Kevin. They prepared to get married. Kevin’s mother, Viola, who lived by herself and worked as a TV show host, determined to scare off her son’s fiancée after they met each other. In Viola’s opinion, her son should marry a high social class girl not a temp. She disgraced Charlie in every possible social occasion. Charlie first tried her best to please her mother-in-law because of her faith to Kevin’s love. However, when she figured out Viola humiliated her on purpose, she fought back. It was interesting that these two women pretended to be good friends in front of Kevin, but were really enemies behind him. As a comedy movie, the climax of the war was arranged on their wedding day when Viola wore a white dress instead of an orange one for matron of honor. Undoubtedly, the movie ended happily. After exchanging their opinions and showing their absolute love to Kevin, after they both gave up a little, they made some deals to be real friends later to build their new life.

I was thinking while I was watching. To a man, the beginning of his marriage was like a war, between his newly married wife and his life-long mother. Men tend to cling to mothers. A mother usually paid much attention to her son than her hubby. The blood bond between mother and son was so strong that the mother unconsciously envied and excluded the woman, who married her son and lived with him for the rest of his life. The mother would think she would lose his son forever, especially for those who were overly possessive.

From daughter-in-law’s point of view, she finally possessed her Mr. Right. So it was time for HER to take care of him, to make decisions for her family, to be treated like a hostess. However, mother-in-law would like to give too much advice since she thought she was much more experienced. If mother-in-law got involved too much, the daughter-in-law would be not happy and the war would be inevitable. That was why I thought the beginning of a new marriage life somehow accompanied with two women’s war---- fight for controlling a man they both loved deeply. Needlessly to say, WAR was a big word here. Adaptation and adjustment on the basis of respect and independence might be the keys for successful establishment of any relationship.

I am a married woman and have a son. It means I saved myself from one war and will jump into another one. LOL. Luckily, I saw this movie today. I wish I could remember this good lesson. We will see. (JUST KIDDING)