Precious in-laws

I have so many good memories that involve my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We had lots of fun with them. We spent lots of time with them.

The Hub and I were very young when we married.  We had our own little house but we spent more time at their house than we did at ours/

In the four years between the time we married and when we had our first child, we travelled with them whenever it was possible.

My father-in-law tried to make a golfer of me. It wasn't pretty. He was heard to shout "Fore" and "play on through" to others on the course more than once. I was finally relegated to driving the cart for he and my husband but I more than made up for it when he took us skeet shooting. After that he could brag that his daughter-in-law was a "better shot than most men" he'd hunted with.  I was as proud of myself as he was of me when I excelled at anything he considered important. It was the same with my mother-in-law. Once, I repeated to her that in a job interview I'd been asked what my worth was as salary was negotiated. "I hope you told them they cannot possibly pay you what you are worth" she said. They were huge supporters and encouragers to me.

When the kids arrived, they found themselves often in the company of the best grandparents they could have asked for. To say they were doting doesn't begin to describe how they felt about my babies.

The adoration went both ways. So much so that my mother-in-law once described their relationships as "mutual admiration" societies.

They were well travelled but their favorite trips involved their children and grandchildren.

I was paged once in the grocery store, in days before cell phones, to the manager's office where the cord had to be stretched far across from where the phone was mounted to the customer service. The voice on the other end of the line wanted to know about what color I wanted for the girls' Christmas dresses. It was my mother-in-law who was in a children's shop in Shreveport, La. with the holidays on her mind. That it was just September did not phase her. She wanted an answer, right then on the holiday attire for her two grandgirls. We discussed and decided then and there. Such was her attention and devotion to her grandchildren and her involvement with them to the smallest detail.

She often told of a  total four hour trip to watch a stage struck little girl in a dance recital where she "might have moved one leg one time!"

If they were acolytes, flower girls, behind the plate at a tee ball game, had

pine wood derby competitions, gymnastics. they were there.

If there was a school or church program, they were there.

They participated in activities and events also within our homes and theirs... whether a board game or a holiday pantomime, they were involved.

So many good memories. I hope my children hold them as dearly as I do.