dedication

My husband just sent me a picture. It is of my FIL sitting in a chair next the the bed where my MIL lies sleeping. It is during the day. She sleeps a lot, lately. And he sits by her side. The only thing that matters to him is that she is breathing, that she eats and that when she sees him, she smiles. With that he is happy.
My FIL has always been kind of controlling and stubborn. He will say that whatever she wants she can have. But a lot of those wants have come with heavy pricetags. She always had new furniture. But he was the one to pick it out. And if it needed to be sold, because it happened to be a store sample (he worked in a furniture store) so be it! Even if people were sitting on it at the time. Or watching cartoons on the television. If he sold the TV, it went. No questions asked. I guess I have always gotten the feeling from him that he believes that he knows best and there is no question about that. So sometimes I have been frustrated by him and how he treats her. But then I look at that picture and it changes my feelings. Not that I think that anyone should live under someone elses thumb. Don't get me wrong. But in a world where marriages are failing left and right, to see a couple who have been each others world for 60 years, well, it leaves me a little choked up.

When all you need to make you happy is seeing your spouse breath, eat and smile, I think you have to take that as a lesson in this busy, complicated world. Well that and an occasional scratch-off.

Chapter 1

After going through a bunch of crap in the past five years, I have decided that I should start writing stuff down.
Even if it is only on virtual paper.

When I was first married, my husband told me that he would never put his parents into a nursing home. It is one of those statements that you kind of gloss over when you are a newlywed. Like "don't ever ask me about my business". Having come from a waspy family and marrying into an Italian family, this was all new to me. At 20 you don't really pay much attention to those kind of statements. You are young and life goes on forever, right?

Well I'm here to tell you that time flies by! And before you know it you are faced with that statement again. Only this time, you aren't 20 and your parents (or in this case, in-laws) are in their 80's and it is something you can't just gloss over. Although I was tempted several times to tell my husband no, in December we moved my 83 year old mother-in-law and my 86 year old father-in-law into our home.

What am I thinking? I haven't even gotten rid of my kids yet!