On Mother’s Day, My MIL Made Me Pay for Everyone’s Meal Because I Was the Only One Without Kids – and Called It My ‘Gift’ to the Real Moms

 

I never thought I’d be the person airing family drama online, but here we are. I’m 35, married to Ryan for nearly 10 years. We’ve faced countless fertility treatments, miscarriages, and heartbreaks—things I rarely discuss anymore because it hurts too much.

Becoming a mom has always been my deepest wish, but it just hadn’t happened. This Mother’s Day, my mother-in-law Cheryl invited me to a “ladies-only dinner” with her and my sisters-in-law. Ryan urged me to go, saying, “Just smile and get through it.”

Cheryl is all about tradition and motherhood being a woman’s highest calling. She has three kids, and her grandkids are her world—constantly showcased on social media. Meanwhile, I’m the one who hasn’t “fulfilled her purpose,” as Cheryl once joked bitterly at Thanksgiving.

At dinner, Cheryl ignored me—no Mother’s Day wishes, no gift—while doting on the others. She even expected me to pay the entire $367 bill because, as she put it, I wasn’t celebrating anything. I quietly refused.

Then I told them Ryan and I were done trying to conceive—and we were adopting. That very morning, we’d been matched with a baby girl due tomorrow in Denver. The room fell silent. I told Cheryl this was technically my first Mother’s Day.

I paid only for my meal and left, saying, “Being childless isn’t an invitation to be my wallet or my insult.”

The next day, holding our newborn Maya in my arms, everything changed. Cheryl called Ryan with angry voicemails, but he told her I owed her nothing.

I don’t feel like an outsider anymore. I’m Maya’s mom, and that’s all I ever wanted to be.