It is my father-in-law’s birthday today, so Chris and I gave him a call this early evening to send him birthday wishes. They are currently in Sydney celebrating with Ben and have been doing a number of fun things, such as taking a cruise along the harbour, visiting the famous Taronga Zoo, and having what looked like a delicious Malaysian dinner complete with wine along Darling Harbour with Chris’s cousin and boyfriend. We chatted about what they were doing in Sydney and what they were eating and drinking, and they asked what we had been up to. I told them about our banana coconut pancakes, our massage and our wonton noodle dinner in Chinatown earlier, and Chris told them that Ben should be using a FitBit and not some exercise tracker of Garmin, which would be going out of business at some point soon. All in all, it was a pretty standard Jacob family conversation.

The one thing I will never really understand but will always respect about Chris’s parents is that they really expect nothing of their children. They don’t get all angry if a gift doesn’t arrive on Mother’s Day or their birthday. They don’t yell if Chris or Ben calls the day after a birthday and not on the day of. They never seem to get mad about anything, actually. There is never a need for them to pull Chris or Ben aside when I am there and have some private “chat” where they are getting scolded at. Everything is out in the open. Nothing is a secret at all.

I wish that was the way it was with my family.