Dear Dr. Laura,
Several years back, at Fort Benning, Georgia I had the chance to meet you. You were attending a Ranger's in Action demonstration and my husband was one of the Ranger's putting on the demonstration. He called me to come and see you. I did in fact SEE you, but I am painfully shy and didn't attempt to introduce myself. I regret not doing so. My husband is an amazing man and I have never been more in love in my life. We've been married 12 years but it just keeps getting better.
But I am not writing about my husband, I want to tell you about his mother. My mother in law is a woman whom could not stand me or I her for the first two years of our marriage. As fate would have it, my husband got deployed to Iraq (we lived in Germany) and he asked me to move closer to his family for the year he was gone.
So back to the states I went, living less than five miles from my mother and father in law. We have two children, (they were 7 and 3 at the time) and we attended church with my in-laws. At some point my mother in law and I got paired up together for a bible study where we had to discuss deeply personal issues regarding relationships. I finally just came out and said "You don't like me much do you?" She replied, "No, I did not like you much when I first met you." For some people this would have been nothing short of a insult, the start of a huge fight, but it was not for us. It was a beginning of healing and building a whole new relationship.
My mother in law is hands down the most beautiful woman I have ever met. She was a nurse for 51 years, she survived breast cancer, a double mastectomy, she camps with NO tent because she thinks there is nothing better then sleeping under the stars, she is a lady of the utmost elegance and grace, and can physically (at age 73) run circles around most 20-somethings. I love her so much, she made me a better woman, gave love to the little girl inside who never got love from her real mom and taught me through her actions with her husband how to be a loving wife to her son.
My father in law is a great man too and in every way my husband mimics him, walks in his shoes and believes his dad is his greatest hero. They have the type of relationship YOU try to teach many women how to obtain. I believe without a doubt "apples don't fall far from the tree" and anyone who becomes part of their family tree are blessed and become better for it.
Keep passing on your wonderful gift, Dr Laura
With much respect and hugs,
Michelle
