Happy Birthday Grammie

  Oh no, here we go again.  It`s almost time to go visit Grammie, my mother in law, and I have to go.  The kids are thrilled and my wife, of course, is always excited to spend time with her mom.  For me, well it brings to mind a recent joke I heard.  Two guys talking at the bar and one says "my mother in law is such an angel" and the other guy responds with "you are so lucky, mine is still alive".

  When I married my wife, we had already been dating for a few years so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into with her family and her mom in particular.  At least I thought I knew until the day I heard her curse, "oh shoot" was what she said.  All of a sudden this sweet, church going woman showed me a side that shocked me, and I kinda liked it.  Who knew that a young 60 year old woman with four grown kids, 10 grandkids, 1 great granddaughter, and one new son in law could be so versatile.  One day talking about the Catholic religion, the next, sending me a joke about Walmart shoppers.  To think this was going to be my future kids grammie and I had yet to see any candies or cookies sitting around her house.

  Here we are, almost 13 years later, the day of her birthday and my four kids think the world of her.  I would say the same about the relationship between the two of us, although there is still the time that she hemmed some pants for me and left a pin in the crotch.  This was discovered while talking with a customer, which you can imagine the rest.  She has warmed up to me over the years and there have been no more pins, but there was still the wasp nest in the canopy that she asked me to put up for her.  Did she know it was there?  Truthfully, I would do anything for my mother in law, after all, I have to live with her daughter and the alternative is sleepless nights on the couch.
  My kids have a special relationship with Grammie that we have yet to figure out.  It`s not very often you walk into a room and see your 73 year old mother in law sitting on the floor playing dolls with your kids, even when you know she will pay for it later.  Or how about the sleepovers at Grammies where the kids get to stay up late, eat what they like and watch whatever is on the television.  All of this and once again someone has to pay later, which of course would be us, the parents.  I guess this is the role of a grandparent and my mother in law plays it to perfection.  

 I have heard it said that when a guy dates a girl he should take a look at her mother as that will be her one day.  Well, I took a look, but I was to young for her, so I settled for her daughter and have been married now for more then twelve years, so if what they say is true then I am one lucky man.  As for my kids, their grammie will say she is the lucky one, although I disagree and years from now the kids will feel the same.  She is a special lady in our life and we would all like to say we love you and wish her a Happy Birthday.