What came to mind first was that these kids were both raised by wise parents to have turned out so well themselves!
Then I was reminded of my MiL and how I learned to get along with her (with the help of my mother). I love football. All the women in my family do and it has never dawned on me that I would be considered unfeminine or not ‘girly enough’ because I watch football. When we would visit Fred’s parents I would watch the games with his dad and we would cheer. His mother would pout in the kitchen and make weird remarks about “some women act like boys” and/or “I guess this is what it means to be a feminist”. I had no idea what to do but I loved my husband and wanted to be a good wife and DiL…
And it dawned on me and my mom that maybe she didn’t like the game because she felt left out…
So the next time we were there I dragged her to the living room, sat her down right next to me and said, “You ask me any question you want and we will ignore these big ol’ lugs of men …I’ll try my best to explain what is going on”.
Her first question? How come the 49ers were wearing white uniforms this week when last week they wore red ones?
I’m not kidding…so I answered it…
Then, she asked more.
Eventually she decided that Joe Montana was the son, Bill Walsh the father and Ronnie Lott the spirit of the team…she got her own cap and would watch the games with me every time I came with Fred to visit them.
She was never my favorite person and would not have been a friend of mine if I had not married her son, but the nasty remarks about my lack of girlishness went away. By the time she died we were friends.
BTW - Fred never really like football…he loved Star Trek (which I think is dumb dumb dumb) but he watched with me, and I watch Star Trek with him…and we both loved other stuff together…so, there you go…compromise.
