Taking Pause

I’m taking a break from my usual weekend recap today, to take a minute and remember my mother-in-law. She died expectedly, but unexpectedly, if you know what I mean, one year ago today. She waited until after I’d visited, til after her mother and her sisters were there, and until after she thought that Ed had gone home until evening visiting hours resumed. She had the nurses disconnect her life support system. She’d had enough of the sickness and the ups and downs. In a matter of hours, she was gone.

For as much of a pain in the ass as she was (and she was the type of person you could tell that she was a pain in the ass), I loved her as a mother. She was often the voice of reason in my teen years when I couldn’t talk to my own mother. Most people meet their mothers-in-law as adults, but I was lucky enough to grow up with mine; to have a second mothering type person. Hell, she was the one who taught me to drive, and picked me up before classes started every morning and let me drive all the way to the university. She took me to vote for the first time.

So today, I want to say thank you to Michele for being a very big part of my life, for raising her son, and for teaching me things that my own parents didn’t. Thank you for teaching me to say “I love you” before hanging up the phone or leaving someone’s side. Thank you for loving my kids more than the world. Thanks for sticking around for as long as you did in spite of all the pain and suffering. I know how hard it was for you, for so many reasons.

And know that I miss you so so much.