Mothers' Week: The Mother-In-Law

I hope you noticed that the apostrophe in Mother's week moved. There is another mother I need to throw into the mix of awesomeness --my mother-in-law Paula.

TV did an excellent job of brainwashing me into thinking that a mother-in-law is an unfortunate reality. Whoever it was, she was going to be manipulative, self-serving, obnoxious, and loud. I must have found the exception --well except for the loud part.

If Paula were to die today (which I hope she doesn't) I fully expect at least a thousand people would show up for the funeral. I really don't feel like I'm exaggerating. Sometime around midnight the officiating pastor would have to cut things short and send everyone home grumbling that they had barely begun. Paula is a teacher at a local elementary school; everywhere we go, we run into someone she had as a student. They all shout her name and come running as if she saved their life from a burning building (the more I get to know her, the more likely this scenario seems).

There are some people who do their job quite well from 9 to 5 and make quite an impression on a lot of lives. And then there are those who go into a bug bed infested, 1970s, single wide trailer after work to clean up, take the sick mother some food, and sit on a bug bed infested couch to talk to them like they are actually people. No, this isn't someone involved in a church program, just my mother-in-law doing what seems to come so natural to her.