I’m a 25-year-old newlywed, and last weekend I brought a dish from my late mother’s recipe collection to a family dinner at my in-laws’. I thought it would be a heartfelt way to honor her memory, but as soon as I set the dish on the table, my mother-in-law looked at me coldly and said, “Get your mother’s food out of my house.” Humiliated and heartbroken, I quietly left the table and waited in the car for an hour.

When my husband finally joined me, I expected support or at least concern. Instead, he burst out laughing about a joke his cousin made during dinner, completely ignoring the fact that I had been gone for most of the evening. I sat there in silence, stunned that he hadn’t even noticed my absence or the way his mother had treated me.

This was only the second time I’d attended a family gathering with his relatives, and the third time I’d met his mother. My own mom passed away just a year before our wedding, so bringing that dish was incredibly personal for me. I don’t understand why my mother-in-law reacted with such hostility — she never even knew my mom.

What hurts most is my husband’s indifference. He hasn’t apologized, comforted me, or even acknowledged how wrong it was for his mother to speak to me that way. I’m left feeling disrespected, dismissed, and completely alone in this marriage when it comes to honoring the memory of the woman who raised me.