Grandma

     I know that I am showing my age here, but when I was young, mother-in-law jokes were the thing. There was the ever popular "Take my mother-in-law---please!" I am sufficiently old now that I don't know what is popular and what isn't except as it pertains to the world of young girls; Selena Gomez is hot, Miley Cyrus is not.
     I must tell you though about a woman who, regardless of whose mother-in-law she was, would never inspire those kinds of jokes. My husband's mother is a quiet reader of books, a lover of children--- she gave birth to ten, and a woman of almost 90 years, generous and goodhearted. That is not to say that she is a wall-flower or a push-over. She has very definite views about very definite things; she likes what she likes. Hot dogs must be barbecued, not boiled, milk chocolate is better than dark, Coke is preferable to Pepsi. Her pleasures include children but not dogs necessarily, a day warm and bright but not too hot, food that satisfies, a book about an interesting person but one that is not too long or with too small a print.
     She was born in Pembroke and has had an interesting journey especially because of the aforementioned children and all the different places that they were born: Montreal, Martinique, Oliver, Phoenix, Cottonwood, Cobourg, Toronto. She is well loved by those children and their children and their children's children because of her big heart and kind ways. I know my daughters' summer would not be complete without her.  When I look at her sitting in our yard rocking on the swing, patting and having a word or two with one of our cats, I realize that she is who I want to be when I grow up: a mother respected, accepted and adored by her family; a person for whom they would do anything because she did everything for them. It was not an easy life; money was tight and times were sometimes really tough. One baby died but more came after. The marriage did not survive but she had trained to be a nurse and went to work.
    I know I don't know all there is to know about this lady. I am a relative new-comer to this family having only known her for 20 years or so and only sometimes from a distance as she lives most of the year in Texas. I do know that I treasure the time she has with my daughters. Having left England when babies, my brothers, sisters and I never knew our grandparents very well and I regret that. With her help, my children are learning patience and compassion; in her they see an even-tempered individual whose generosity and mild manner shines in a world of greed and extremes. When I ask them about her, she is funny, caring and fashionable says one daughter. She is nice, friendly and cheerful says the other. Yes I say, yes she is.