A Day to Honor my Mother- in-Love

Today, I'd like to honor a very special woman in my life.  The woman who's genetics created my irresistibly handsome husband.  The woman who birthed him, fed him, and put her blood, sweat and tears into him.  This woman...this selfless and sacrificial woman, is none other than my very own Mother-in-Love.  In case you didn't know it, my Mom-in-Love and I have a bond, a connection that transcends our  many differences.  We've been in the trenches together.  She's seen things.  She knows my secrets.  We're past the formal greetings.  We keep it real. 

She's been there for me in my hour of need, requiring great sacrifice on her part.  And I do mean G-R-E-A-T sacrifice.  When I was three weeks away from my due date with our second child, I got a horrible case of the stomach flu. I vomited so forcefully, that my water broke, and I went into labor immediately.  My parents were 4 hours away by car, and my husband took me to the hospital.  Minutes after we arrived, he turned a vile shade of grayish green, and then began puking too.  He was so violently ill, that he had to go home.  Not to worry though, Mother- in-Love to the rescue!!! That saintly woman sat by my side the entire time.  She wheeled my I.V. to the bathroom and held my hair as I simultaneously puked and had contractions for hours on end. She didn't even flinch.  She brought me ice chips and rubbed my back. She held my hand and did all the things my husband couldn't do because he was at home, hugging the toilet.  My husband came back just in time to watch the birth, and partake in the merriment.  But it was my Mother-in-Love that was in the trenches with me.  And what reward did she get for all of her self-less duty? She got the same stomach flu less than 48 hours later.  That's love.

We have adventures together.  Real, dangerous, adrenaline pumping adventures.  On one occasion, I was evacuated from my home with the threat of a forest fire overtaking my town.  I drove to my In- Laws, baby in tow, pulling a trailer with all my worldly possessions in it.  My husband and my father-in-law were off fighting the fire.  My Mother-in- Love had an entire town of people to care for.  I was pregnant, hormonal, worried about my favorite cow left laboring in the pasture, and I needed to irrigate.  The roads were all closed, and the entire mountain was in chaos.  I was busy plotting my  route back to the pasture.  She tried to talk me out of all this wreckless behavior, but my mind was made up.  She wasn't going to let me be in danger alone, so she reluctantly hopped in the truck with me.  I drove like a maniac.  We flew down  unfamiliar back roads to avoid the barricades and law enforcement.  I drove 55 miles an hour on a dirt road with hair- pin turns, and she pleaded with me to slow down as she held on to the door handle with white knuckles.  We arrived to the pasture and put on bandannas to breath through the smoke and ash.  Like two bandits, we walked through the pasture, checking to see that my favorite cow had made it through her labor, and her calf was alive and nursing well.   We opened the irrigation ditch and let the water flow.   After I was satisfied that all was well with my livestock, we walked back to the truck. We were exhausted and  layered with mud, smoke and falling ash.  By cover of darkness we slowly made our way back to safety.   Enough time has passed that we can laugh about this now, but I'm pretty sure that I shaved a few moments off her life, or at the very least, gave her a few grey hairs.

My Mother- in- Love once washed my laundry, including a load of my under things. And she's never told a soul what they look like.  She's shown up at my house and unloaded a trunk full of groceries when it was three days until payday and I was making sandwiches with two heels of bread.  She just "knows" things.   That's why we've bonded.  That's why we can agree to disagree about the little things.  That's why we can be honest.  Because she's got my back when it matters most.  She's built up the trust that only comes with time spent being "real" with each other. That's devotion.....and that's my Mother-In-Love.