Mother vs. Wife

Tonight I was watching a rerun of Law & Order where a man was in a coma and his mother was the one that was flown to NYC to sit by his side. They established at the beginning of the episode that he was married and had a child. So here is my question....when a grown adult is married who should be the one to have privileges in a situation like that? As a mother I would want to be the one by their bedside and I would feel it is my right as the woman who brought them into the world and raised them to adulthood, but as a wife I would fight my mother-in-law tooth and nail if she tried to usurp my spot at Lincoln's bedside.

I posed this question to Lincoln and of course he approached it from a logical stand point of "who do you belong to now." He feels that as a spouse you are now the most important person in the individuals life. And if he was the one in the hospital I fully agree. I argued that if it was Jake or Hannah that was in the hospital I would want to be the one there with them.

Lincoln: Well sure, if it's Jake or Hannah now.

Me: But what about when they're married?

Lincoln: Well then it would be the spouse. They would "belong" to their spouse.

Me: I'm sorry but no interloper in this family is going to take my spot by their bedside.

Lincoln: Wow. Interloper.....

Let this post serve as warning to anyone thinking of marrying into this family....don't mess with Mama Bear.

And Gail, I love you but I get to be at Lincoln's bedside if anything were to happen to him.

Yes. I expect it both ways.