For those of you who have or have had a mother-in-law and/or father-in-law, in which ways do you wish your own mother and/or father had

My former mother-in-law is a beautiful person. She's intelligent, diplomatic, caring, and hard-working. When she's happy, the whole room lights up with her smile. My daughter is very much like her in terms of looks and personality and I think that's a good thing. Compared to my own mother... eh... I'm pretty sure my mom had bipolar disorder and that led to her substance abuse issues. I probably don't need to say more. I hesitate to compare the two. I was, and am, blessed to have my former MIL in my life. 

My former FIL is similar to my own father in many ways. Very smart, protective of the ones he loves, and very proud. Also very brutal at times. It took me many years to figure out what made him tick and it was probably 7-8 years into my marriage before I could have described our relationship as being "close." He is the type of man you don't dare cross for anything, but as long as you stay on his good side, he's very kind and generous. And, it does take a lot to tick him off- you'd have to genuinely disrespect him or someone he cares about. My father... I really don't know. I didn't speak to my own father for about a decade and these days, I tend to keep him at arm's length. I don't think I ever developed the kind of warm relationship with my father that I had with my FIL. I disagreed with my FIL on a lot of things, but I also trusted his judgment and considered him to be a fair man. I don't trust my own father the same way.

This reminded me how much I miss my in-laws. Really, losing them was the only bad part about getting divorced. I still have contact with them and we're on good terms, I think, but it's not the same.