When my husband Jason told me his mom, Linda, had sold her condo and needed a place to stay “for a few weeks,” I had a sinking feeling. Our previous weekend visits had been… challenging. Still, I agreed—as long as we established some ground rules.
Linda arrived with three large suitcases, a few houseplants, and what seemed like a permanent vacation mindset. At first, I remained optimistic. But within days, it became clear Linda had no intention of helping out around the house. She left dishes on the table, smudged up mirrors without cleaning them, and casually added her laundry to ours without asking. When I gently reminded her about tidying up, she smiled and said, “Oh, honey, I’m just a guest—you wouldn’t ask a guest to do chores, would you?”
Jason, trying to keep the peace, would simply say, “She’s my mom, babe,” and leave it at that. So, rather than argue, I decided to lean into Linda’s idea of being a guest—and provide her with the ultimate guest experience.
That Monday, Linda woke up to a personalized breakfast menu on her nightstand: cereal in our best bowl, toast “lightly crisped to perfection,” or a chef’s surprise from last night’s leftovers. She seemed amused but chose cereal, albeit with a raised eyebrow.
On Tuesday night, I gently introduced our new “house security protocol,” which included the WiFi automatically turning off at 11 p.m. Linda wasn’t thrilled, but I reminded her that many hotels have similar energy-saving policies.
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