She had brought her lunch with her on the hike … a big bag of pre-cooked popcorn. It was both her comfort food and her means of exerting control over what was sure to be a disastrous lunch situation. Here’s the picture…two 60ish in law parents have brought along sandwiches of who knows what inside…it could run the gambit from butter and bread to spam. The one sure thing was it wasn’t going to be under her control. It was bad enough that she had to put on the happy daughter in law face for several hours just so she could get some exercise while fulfilling her sense of duty. Her sense of duty. It never ends. So she brought her own bag, a quite big bag of popcorn with her. At lunch she opened it anxiously and felt under control. Then the father in law unit asked for some. She joked that it was all hers. At least she appeared to joke but in fact she was dead serious. Her husband unit gave her that “just let it be ok” thread. She pleaded nicely with the f-in-law making up a new word for the f. Told the f that it was her treat and she wasn’t sharing…all in a good natured joking way. It seemed to work for a while but then towards the end of lunch the f asked again. The husband with the pleading eyes again. She gave in. A small handful to the f. She look at her husband and smiled. Her other planned duty item of the day she would leave unfulfilled.