I've never got on with my MiL; she and Sil were incredibly nasty to me when I had DS (3.5) - unfortunately, it resulted in the doctor diagnosing me with depression and we took the decision to move away - previously lived 10 minutes away. I got a move through work so we are now 200 miles away and I think much happier for it. Anyway. We've been in our new place almost 2 years and MiL has not visited once. She is 70, but fit as a flea. She doesn't work or volunteer and complains that she's got nothing to do all day, yet she won't come to visit despite an open invitation. She said that she doesn't like the train, although, I know that she has happily travelled on trains with SiL. She said from the start that for her to come here DH would have to pick her up from the house, bring her here and take her back - that's up to 800 miles driving over one weekend (and she's made it clear that if she does come she wouldn't want to stay longer than a weekend). We both work full time so it would mean taking leave on a Fri/Mon that we can't afford to take as we are saving up to carry over for next year when DS starts school. We've tried everything. Looking at coaches, flights etc but she won't budge. We finally suggested that perhaps if she got a train into London, DH could meet her there then get the train back here together meaning she'd just have an hour on the train alone and it would cut the overall journey time by half. She said ok, but every time we've mentioned setting this up, buying the tickets for her etc, she changes the subject. I have been in and out of hospital for the past 9 months due to a medical issue, so we haven't been able to go visit her and she hasn't seen DS since last August. She is missing so much and I'm not sure what to do.
We are planning to visit her in August when I can take some leave, but bloody hell, seeing your grandchild once per year when you have nothing else to do isn't on surely. What should we do now? DH's reaction is "sod her", but not sure if that's bravado. I sway between sod her too, but then feel really sad that she's missing so much of DS growing up.
Sorry for the essay.