It would be hard to find a worse mother-in-law than Penny's. Here's her tale ...

Rarely did my now mother-in-law verbally abuse me to my face, but she constantly degraded me to whomever would listen — even my own mother. The only time she would come to my house was when I was gone.

Then, she would enter our house, listen to our answering machine, throw away things I was saving, move things where she wanted them. One time she moved a shirt I had left hanging on my son's bedroom door. It was there so he'd remember to wear it for the school spring concert. When my son looked for the shirt, he couldn't find it.

When my husband confronted her, first she said she hadn't touched it. I told my husband that unless we have poltergeists, she did it! Her final statement was if she had done, it was because it was just thrown all over the floor! It would have been comical if it hadn't been so damaging to our marriage.

She would call our house all the time. Most of the time she would just ask for her son or grandsons and never talk to me, which was just fine. But when she did talk to me it was, "Tell the boys to come over for supper. I'm not having anything you'd like, but you can come if you want." She said this repeatedly. Well, one time, I wanted to be with my family, so I went. Never again did she make the mistake of saying I could come!

If she ever asked me how I wanted something, she would do the opposite. My ex-father-in-law had a heart attack after our Easter meal. They took him to the hospital. She was mad because I had cleaned up all the dishes and the kitchen while they were gone. She was hoping she'd have more stories for her friends.

One time my husband's grandmother had fallen. Some friends had found her and called me. I went there immediately. My mother-in-law wanted me to leave Grandmother all by herself until she got there, which would be an hour or two. I refused. She was mad at me. She always wanted me to be the bad guy.

The thought of having to take care of that woman in her old age made me wish I were dead. I was so depressed. After both of my boys were out of the house, I finally filed for divorce. I can't tell you the number of people who said they didn't know how I took it as long as I did!

My now ex-husband wasn't an awful guy; he just had no idea how to stand up for me and still be her son. It's so sad I felt that I had to break up my family in order to be free. My oldest son told me the one thing I had taught him was when you make a commitment, you need to stick with it! Wow! That hurt.

The only thing I could say was I was 20 when I made the commitment, and I did the best I could to keep it for as long as I could. Being committed to a team for a season is one thing, being in the environment I was in for over 25 years was quite another! I'm happy almost all the time now, but there are times I so very much miss having my family together!

How are your in-laws? Send your thoughts along with your questions and problems to [email protected]. And check out my ebook, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front."

Photo credit: Sarah