Mine

Oh my sweet mother-in-law. No matter what, she always puts a smile on my face.

A little backstory;

The outlaws (that's what I call them) are what we in the northeast call "off da boat". Meaning that they come directly from the Azores. Portuguese Island people. Now these are a VERY proud people. Also, IMHO, there are two kinds that came over, the "old bobs" and the "fashnandas". Bobs will work till there arms fall off, no job too big. And the others, well, they kinda just hang out with their hats cocked alittle to the side and well.....hang out. Doing nothing.

My inlaws are th bobs. Let me explain. VERY religous, and VERY hard working. My f.i.l. used to walk to and from work (no joke!) regardless of the weather. The contruction company he worked for basically forced this man to retire, and the day before retirment he was carrying shingles on his back, up a latter, to the roof, for a delievery. I truly hope that I am half the man he is someday. And did I mention that the devotion to family is just as strong as their devotion to religion. My mother in law is just the do all mom. Worked in the laundry all day for almost no money, and did it with a smile and thank you. Came home, cooked, took care of the children, and cleaned. Went to bed around 11, woke up and did it all again without a single complaint, ever. Did I mention cleanliness? I want to add that the portuguese have a whole new level of cleanleness that I never new existed. Not that my parents were slobs or that I am, but this is different. I mean they wash all the walls every other weekend, and 2 times a year the house is completly ripped apart for another cleaning with shampoo machines and buffers and stuff. Amazing. Again, I hope to be half the poeple that they are someday. They are getting older now, but still haven;t lost their drive.....just their hearing. Kinda funny though. For instance it's hilarious to listen as my m.i.l. heads down to do the laundry, dad wonders where she is so he stands at the top of the stairs calling for her. She's answering but he can't hear her! So he keeps calling, too stubborn to come downstairs to find her but at the same time getting upset that she's not answering. She's downstairs laughing, telling him in portuguese, that she's gone away, knowing that he can't hear! It's really too much. I've actually witness him walking around outside then asking me, "Chris, you see yur mather?", "Yea Pi, she went in about 5 minutes ago." Then he walks away mumbling something in portuguese that I'm SURE I'm not supposed to know the translation too. A never ending source of enjoyment.

Back to the story

So my day off is today, but I need to get some work done. After the girl goes off to school I get cleaned up and get ready to go get a coffee. I ask my soon to be 2 year old if he wants to go also. He shakes his head and I scoop him up to go. M.i.l. says bye and the kid goes mental. So I just turn around and ask her to come with me, it's a short ride. About 10 minutes into the 20 minute drive, I ask her if she let dad know that she was going, she looks at me, then just starts laughing! "no, it's ok, he'll be fine". I said "no he won't, he'll be walking up and down the street looking for you and the boy!" Again, she just laughed and said he'd be ok. Sure enough, pull inot the driveway and he's coming around the back of the house not looking real happy. She jumps out and I can hear him yelling at her. Not really yelling though. I might not know alot of portuguese but there was definatly concern and anger in his voice. She just smiled, said something to him, patted him on the head and everything was fine for him. I now know what love is, and wish everyone to have poeple in their life to be able to look to for an example of tolerance, understanding, and never ending love. The harrassment is just a funny side effect.

Fenix