Just Play It By Ear

Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday.  I wish we could be celebrating with her, rather than being separated by multiple states and many, many miles!  She’s a pretty amazing woman and doesn’t even realize it.  She is so strong, so dedicated to her family, and such an accepting person.  I’m lucky to be a part of the family.  Yeah, they have their drama (what family doesn’t?!), but it’s pretty awesome to be a part of a family that is so unlike my own.  Jessie’s parents have been married forever.  Okay, not forever, but for like 36 years or something crazy like that.  Jessie is an only child, so it’s always pretty much just been him, his mom, and his dad.  They have been through a lot, faced many difficult obstacles, and yet, they made it through every obstacle together, as a family.  We come from pretty different family dynamics.  My parents divorced when I was young, each of them remarried more than once, and eventually my dad was granted full custody of me and my mom was no longer a part of my life. There were many times while growing up that I relied on my extended family so I have developed extremely close relationships with some of my aunts and my uncle, whereas Jessie isn’t very connected to extended family.  Coming from such different backgrounds is nice though because it gives us a whole new appreciation for our family while also letting us experience a different dynamic through our relationships with the in-laws. 

So happy birthday to Mom.  A woman who raised an incredible son who I am lucky enough to call my husband.  A woman who has stood by her family despite all the twists and turns life has presented.  A woman who has accepted me into her family as one of her own and never once lived up to the dreaded mother-in-law horror stories people often tell.  And, a woman who will probably never read this post, haha…maybe I should tell her this blog exists?  Although we can’t be there with her for her day, we’ll be with her in spirit.  Wishing her all the happiness she deserves! 

Two of my favorite people are coming tomorrow and I am so freakin’ excited. They’re mine and Jessie’s BFF couple. Typically the way it works is we’ll get along really well with one person in the couple, but not like the significant other…or just not have much in common, think he/she is strange, etc. But that’s not the case with the Henderson couple! We all get along super well. Each of us is easygoing, low maintenance, and ready to have fun. Once we took a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland (a 6 hour drive from where we live). We decided the night before around 10 pm while having drinks that we should leave at 2 am and drive to Disney…so we did! And it was one of the greatest weekend getaways I’ve ever had. They moved to Washington about a year ago so we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like, but we’re still super close.

This weekend will be for laughing til my stomach hurts, inside jokes, eating yummy food, catching up with friends, partying, celebrating graduation, and acting like a college kid again. I can’t wait!!