I'm jealous

There - I've said it. I'm jealous of my mother-in-law, but not in the way you think. I'm jealous that my mil gets to spend so much time with my kids but my mother doesn't. My mil lives here; my mother lives 1000 miles away. She visits us frequently, but it's just not the same. She doesn't get to have sleepovers with the kids, doesn't get to take them to events in town, doesn't get to just hang out with them.

While I don't dislike my mil, I don't really like her either. I don't agree with her view of the world - narrow, sheltered, Southern Baptist - and I don't agree with many of the choices she's made in the past few years. And that's a lot of the problem. She's not the role model I want for my children.

That's not to say my mom's perfect, but she's well educated, well traveled, and aware of what's going on in the world. She also doesn't try to shove religion into my kids when she's around them. She's the grandmother I want my kids to be around, not my mil.

But what can I do? My parents aren't going to move here, and my mil isn't going to move away. So I suck it up and hide my jealousy and count the days until my mother comes for visit.