The Inlaws

There's no nice way to put this, so I'm just going to say it: it can be so hard dealing with inlaws. Learning to mesh with a new family and figuring out what is and what is not acceptable behavior can be really hard at first.
One of the things that initially struck me about Kevin's family was their constant tendency to ask about the weather. I didn't understand this behavior. Were they really interested in how many inches of rain we had gotten that week? Seriously?
They seemed to be extremely interested in the humidity levels, the amount of rain, the wind strength and the cloud density that we had to endure on a daily basis. I even noticed that hubby, when talking to his family, would preface the conversation with the standard opening, "So, have you guys gotten much rain recently?" He would then tell them all about the heat index and the rain patterns at our house. Bizarre.
I was initially taken aback by this seemingly strange behavior.
Then one day, as I was sitting in awkward silence on the telephone with my father-in-law, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I could think of nothing relevent, appropriate, or new to tell him about our life.
I couldn't even think of anything to ask in the hope of sparking some sort of conversation.
I was drowning in a sea of silence.
And then it happened.
I blurted out, "So, how's the weather there?" And as I sat there relieved for a moment, listening to the details of the most recent West Texas sand storm, I understood this behavior just a little more.