I came back from work and met a different kitchen. Everything had been rearranged, and a lot of things couldn’t be found. My mother-in-law had visited a day prior, so I knew she could be the reason. I opened the fridge, and it looked almost empty. Even the soups and stews we had stocked were nowhere to be found. My spice bottles had disappeared, and the frozen foods were gone.

I sat quietly, waiting for an explanation, but she went about her business as if all was well. I waited until my husband returned. My mother-in-law was in the kitchen preparing food, so I asked him, “Babe, what in the name of rapture happened in the kitchen? Everything is gone. Did she discuss it with you?”

He also went around checking things. He asked his mom what happened, and she answered, “I threw them away.” “Ah, even the stew and soups in the fridge?” She answered, “Yeah, I disposed of them. They smelled too old.”

I joined them in the kitchen to explain to her that those foods were prepared over the weekend, so they were only four days old. She said, “Four days? Why do you leave food for this long? Don’t you have time to cook for my son?”

I asked about everything that was missing. “The spices—where did they all go?”

She pointed to my husband and said, “Look at your husband’s stomach. Was it like that when you got married? You’re feeding him with spices and old dishes; that’s why he has a potbelly. His father died with a flat tummy at the age of sixty-nine.”

I realized I had little to say, so I left them there. She’s the one who cooks these days. She says she’s going to deflate my husband’s stomach before she goes away. My problem is, when she’s gone, who’s going to prepare fresh food every day? Or is she going to take over the marriage from here?

What Nobody Tells You About Divorce

We both don’t have issues, and I pray it remains like that, but the way things are going and how she’s dictating the pace and rhythm around here, I foresee a fight very soon.

—Moda

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