No - John Quinones is not going to jump out from behind this screen. It's just that this question keeps popping up in my head, everytime someone says, "Your letting your Mother-in-law LIVE with you?"
What would you do?
My mother-in-law is 68 years-old. She was raised on the island of Cyprus. She was hit by a car at the age of 17, badly hurt, then badly treated lying in a hospital for over three years trying to recover. She left with many scars both internal and external along with one leg shorter than the other. Somehow she found love, or so she thought and married only to find that her husband was abusive. This was long before woman's right in our country and we are talking about one that was still farther behind. Then there wa a war.
She has been through more than I will ever be able to conceive. Pain that came in every form: physical, mental, spiritual, emotionally. This woman has perserverd and survived things that I can not imagine. Things that wake you and I from a sound sleep in a cold sweat: poverty, death, famine, war, abuse. And then she sent her only son to America.
He came to gain opportunities and a chance for a better life than he would have had in Greece and he found it. But in the process has left his mom 5000 miles away. He didn't move home and marry a good greek girl. And she let him. With all that she has been through, she didn't even get a daughter who can speak the same language, cook the same food, or give her a namesake. And she's ok with that.
She has never complained. She has never treated me with disrespect. She has shown me only the love, kindness, and compassion she would have for her own daughter. She shows me strength everyday struggling stand, walk, and tie her own shoes. She shows her love by cooking the most fabulous of greek dishes that take hours to prepare and every pot in the kitchen.
So whenever someone asks me, "How can you live with your Mother-in-law for 6 months?" All I can think is, how can I not?
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