I have been blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law! I only hope to model my relationship with my sons-in-law by the example she has shown me.
Stereotypical examples of mother-in-laws, are often ones of meddling, busy body, know it alls. I have friends who have this type of mother-in-law; however, not me. Marlene has only ever shown me kindness, generosity and patience. She has always stepped back and let Al and I do our own thing. She has always jumped back in when we failed. She NEVER said "I told you so" or made us feel bad. She has ALWAYS been supportive of ALL of our decisions.
I could give many examples, but I will leave you with this one. We were remodeling our kitchen. We had saved up enough money for new cupboards. Al went to Menards and loaded them up in our old truck. We don't need to split hairs here as to who said to tie the boxes down and who said they will be fine....needless to say, one of the boxes slid off the top and broke into many, many pieces. When we returned home with the pieces and cupboards, Marlene called us and asked how the remodeling was going. Al told her the whole story. Without our asking, she sent us a check to cover the one that broke so we could get another. She always does things like this - not just for her children, but strangers as well!
She doesn't go on the computer or even read my blog, so I am not afraid of embarrassing her. I chose to write about this today because of something I said on Sunday. It is something Marlene use to say to us all the time and I didn't totally understand it till now. Justine and Josh came for lunch after church, when they were done eating, they said "should we do the dishes?" I said "no, leave them alone, once you leave I have nothing to do but those dishes." I instantly thought of her - I repeated something she said to us. She was wise enough to put the time she wanted to spend with us over those dirty dishes. Thanks Marlene - I get it now.
Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.
Stereotypical examples of mother-in-laws, are often ones of meddling, busy body, know it alls. I have friends who have this type of mother-in-law; however, not me. Marlene has only ever shown me kindness, generosity and patience. She has always stepped back and let Al and I do our own thing. She has always jumped back in when we failed. She NEVER said "I told you so" or made us feel bad. She has ALWAYS been supportive of ALL of our decisions.
I could give many examples, but I will leave you with this one. We were remodeling our kitchen. We had saved up enough money for new cupboards. Al went to Menards and loaded them up in our old truck. We don't need to split hairs here as to who said to tie the boxes down and who said they will be fine....needless to say, one of the boxes slid off the top and broke into many, many pieces. When we returned home with the pieces and cupboards, Marlene called us and asked how the remodeling was going. Al told her the whole story. Without our asking, she sent us a check to cover the one that broke so we could get another. She always does things like this - not just for her children, but strangers as well!
She doesn't go on the computer or even read my blog, so I am not afraid of embarrassing her. I chose to write about this today because of something I said on Sunday. It is something Marlene use to say to us all the time and I didn't totally understand it till now. Justine and Josh came for lunch after church, when they were done eating, they said "should we do the dishes?" I said "no, leave them alone, once you leave I have nothing to do but those dishes." I instantly thought of her - I repeated something she said to us. She was wise enough to put the time she wanted to spend with us over those dirty dishes. Thanks Marlene - I get it now.
Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.
Marlene is the greatest!
ReplyDeleteoh, you are blessed. as is she. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful MIL, Jacky! I know what you mean about those dirty dishes! If I washed them up at night, I wouldn't have any time to spend with Randy! The next day when I'm all alone is the perfect time to do them! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
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ReplyDeleteWise MIL! I am sure you will make a great one!
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