MOTHER-IN-LAW: SAMIA “SAM” (60) (Interior Designer/Business Owner)

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW: MARY (24) (Business Owner)

SON: DOMINIC (29) (Business Owner)

location: Los Angeles/Villa Park, California

The Thoroughly Modern Middle Eastern Mother-In-Law

Initially, Mary would get embarrassed with how loud, crass, unfiltered and opinionated her mother-in-law, Samia, (aka “Sam”) can be. But since they’ve become best-friends, something has switched, and Samia has become a clone of her MIL. Sam’s loud and domineering personality has proven difficult when she’s hated every girl her son, Dominic, has brought home. Once she even hurled a shoe at one of his ex’s! When Dominic brought Mary to meet his parents, Sam assumed she was “just another lay” for Dom (yes, that’s how she talks.) However, over time, Mary started coming over a lot more and matching Sam’s big energy! The two have been inseparable ever since.

Boundaries are few and far between with between the two. Sam, as an interior designer, has a specific vision for the home, be it hers or Mary’,s and she won’t ask questions when it comes to decisions. Though many would take issue with their mother-in-law coming over and rearranging furniture, Mary welcomes it because she says, “she’s usually right anyways!” Samia has no problem busting in on her daughter-in-law naked in bed with her son. She doesn’t mind changing with her in a changing room while they’re out doing a girl’s day of shopping. And she certainly doesn’t mind wearing matching Lulu Lemon outfits as they take their “gossip walks” around the neighborhood; judging and b!t$hing about anything and everything. It also helps that Sam has two sons, a husband and NO other women in the family, so she naturally gravitates towards Mary.

They both take a great deal of pride in their appearance and are painfully honest in an extreme way with one another when something doesn’t look right. Mary will tell Sam when she looks fat and Sam will tell Mary when she looks like a “whore.” The two of them will be the loud couple at the restaurant talking and laughing over many drinks! Anything you can think of two best friends doing together, these two do together. On any typical day, you might find them going to the gym, shopping, cooking, or dining out!

Even Sam’s friends have noticed and become jealous of how much time they spend together. Though Mary is less than half their age, she still can be found hanging with the middle-aged, mom-group. Often, Mary will be the token GEN Z-er’ at a bachelorette trip or to a casino with all of Sam’s friends. Much like Sam, there are no filters with her friends either. Mary will even join them all in explicit games of Never Have I Ever. \

Additionally, Dominic has always struggled with extreme anxiety so much so that he has a hard time visiting people outside his family. Even getting on an elevator is a big deal to him. He’s never even taken an airplane in his life. Dominic is extremely outgoing and chalk-full of personality, but Mary wants to travel, see the world, and push her husband to do and experience more, and help him push through his anxiety.

Although Sam is Middle Eastern she was born and raised in the United States to a very progressive, outspoken, and Western thinking family. While Mary was born in the U.S., her parents are from Lebanon and Palestine and are very much still culturally rooted in an older, more conservative Middle Eastern mentality. Due to the cultural differences Mary experiences with her own parents, she has never felt truly assimilated into her own family. With Sam, she feels she can connect on how she straddles both cultural worlds. This leaves Sam feeling conflicted as she clearly loves her parents but never truly feels she can be herself around them. At one point Mary’s mother saw a photo of her in a one-piece swimsuit with Dom and assumed that now they would need to get married. Mary has a hard time connecting with her own, mother, and feels a kindred spirit with her mother-in-law. Both families are very tied into their Middle Eastern roots and observe various traditions and will speak Arabic at home.

Mary and Dominic have had some big life changes recently! They decided to sell their home in Los Angeles and buy a home two blocks away from the In-Laws! That’s right, Mary and Dominic are moving next door to his parents. They figured that they are with them so much anyways, that they might as well make the investment. What’s even better, is that they are hiring Sam’s company to renovate their brand-new home. That means that Mary and Dominic will be moving in to mother in-law’s pool house while the renovation takes place! Yes, that’s right, they’ll all be under one roof together. Interestingly enough, Sam also lives with her mother in-law who she cannot stand. She’s rude, critical and a gossip. She always is trying to stir up drama. Mary and Sam have nick-named her the “barracuda” because she is always lurking and asking for a fight. Having Dominic, Mary, Sam, Sam’s husband AND the barracuda under one roof is sure for some drama.   

Since Sam will be renovating her daughter in-law’s home, there’s a lot of opinions in the mix. Sam, Dominic and Mary all have very big personalities and very strong opinions of what their new home will be like. It’ll be interesting to see who ends up getting their way.

To make things even MORE chaotic, Mary and Dominic have convinced Mary’s parents to sell their home in the Inland Empire (a couple hours outside of Orange County) and move near them in Orange County. It’s been agreed upon that Mary’s parent’s will live in their new home as they prepare and renovate the home, so that they have somewhere to live as they look for a permanent home. It’s going to be A LOT of parent’s with different mindsets, cultures and values living in very close proximity to each other!

And there’s EVEN MORE big news! Mary and Dominic are engaged! He popped the question with an over-the-top proposal and she said YES! That means that they happy couple is getting married in September of 2023. But the work starts NOW! Middle Eastern families do it BIG when it comes to weddings! They are looking to invite close to 400 people! Mary wants something simple and refined and Sam wants something big and over-the-top. Dominic generally likes to be flashy and big too! And, of course, Mary’s parent’s will have opinions on what happens with the wedding. Between renovating a home, moving and planning a wedding, Mary is understandably overwhelmed. There is so much life happening all at once! Sam says that this is all easy life-stuff and she has a handle on it, but Mary isn’t so sure. Dominic also knows that all of this is going to make his mom and Mary even closer, scheming and ganging up on him. Although he’s excited about the future, he’s curious how these big changes will change the dynamic.