Back to the Real World

My mother in law, Barb, has been visiting us from KY for the past 2 and a half weeks. Her primary purpose in coming was to help out while Joey recovered from a lumbar puncture he was scheduled to have. She was also coming to visit her favorite son, daughter in law, and grandkids. I'm not sure if she knew it - but her visit served a much larger purpose for me. While she was here I didn't have to cook, I didn't have to empty the dishwasher, I didn't have to clean, I didn't have to do laundry (although I did do some), I didn't have to rush home from work if I needed to stay late, and I was able to go shopping by myself. She took a lot of the responsibility of caring for the kids (mostly because they preferred her over me) and handled a lot of bath nights.

For a long time in the beginning of mine and Joey's relationship, she and I didn't get along. We were civil to each other, but there wasn't a connection or a friendship. Mainly because I "grew up," we have moved past that. We were able to hang out together and have fun. She came to NC wanting to have a yard sale, so I decided to throw some kids clothes in and help her out. We went to the mall and shopped around, had lunch, and spent way too much money at Sam's Club. We took the kids to the Pit Party at the Monster Truck Jam and suffered through the crazy breakfast at the hotel the next morning.

As she left this morning to go back to her real world, so I return to mine. I fixed dinner tonight, I emptied the dishwasher, I picked up the house, and I took both kids with me to Target. Her presence was immediately missed. But she's not missed only because of the things she did to give me a break, but because one of my friends is gone. She's not here to talk to and discuss all the crazy things the kids did and what's going on with Joey, and I will miss that. She is someone who knows and understands all of Joey's medical problems and personality quirks as well as I do, and understands when they get to me. She is someone I can lean on when I need to get something off my mind, and someone I can make jokes with about my crazy life. So as she heads back to KY, I hope she knows how much she means to our family, and especially me. Finally, after all these years.