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"Regain Your Confidence, Reclaim Your Life">
Son-in-laws are Sneaky
March 29, 2010
I have determined that son-in-laws are sneaky. First they sneak into your life by stealing your daughter's heart. Then the same sneaky scoundrel sneaks into your home by marrying your daughter. He further encroachs into your life by sneaking various assundry traits and characteristics into your grandchildren, so that everytime you look at them you have to see a part of him. He even managed to sneak into my finances a few times with bills that needed to be paid, or by nickle and diming for a candy bar here and a can of pop there. But what I wasn't prepared for was the way he managed to, with great cunning, patience and stealth, sneak into my own good graces.
You see, Joe (that's my son-in-law) and I started off a little rocky. First of all, no one was going to be good enough for MY daughter, and I had to take a hard-line and insist that he give up certain bad habits if he was going to be allowed to stay in her life. And then we developed that stereo-typical mother-in-law, son-in-law relationship where he tried to see how many buttons he could push, and I tried to see if I could keep from killing him everytime he aggravated me, or whenever I felt he wasn't keeping up his end of the bargain in taking care of my daughter and grandson. So far I've succeeded in not strangling him, although I came close a few times. Finally, I had reached the point that I wasn't even sure I liked him - I mean how many cartoons can a grown man watch daggone-it!
So, when he showed up on my door-step bright and early on October 7th to say good-bye, as he was leaving to board a bus to report for basic training, I was not at all prepared for the emotions and tears that were trying to sneak to the surface of my tough "I-don't-give-a-darn-that-you-are-leaving" facade. It hit me so hard and so suddenly that I couldn't even face him, instead choosing to continue typing with my back to him as I said a good-bye that I hoped sounded casual and non-challant. I felt bad, because I knew he was going to think I didn't care that he was going off on a 4-year, life-changing journey. I tried to convince myself that the tears I was fighting back were simply for my daughter and 10 year old Aspie grandson who were going to have their own issues to deal with trying to adjust to being without hubby and dad. But the truth is, at some point when I wasn't paying attention Joe had snuck into my own heart. And I realized at that point that I look at him as a son - a son that crawled out from under a rock, or was born in a barn - but a son none-the-less. And I have a vast array of emotions about him being in the military.
On the one hand I worry about what the future might hold for him. With the war situation it is highly probable that he will be required to serve a stint overseas in dangerous territory. And although I know the Army takes care of their own, and that they are working hard to ensure that he is prepared and capable to deal with whatever situation he is put in, I am still painfully aware of all that could go wrong. So like any mother I worry. I worry for him, and I worry for my daughter and grandson. To deal with the worry I stay faithful and know that we'll all be given what we need in order to deal with whatever comes our way.
At the same time I am fierce-ly proud that Joe has chosen this road, and that he has been given the opportunity and honor of serving and defending our Country. I know that it will be a time of great growth and development that will shape the man he will be for the rest of his life. That he will learn things, and meet people who will alter his views, challenge his beliefs, and impact his life in so many ways and that that is how he will be molded into the man, the husband and the father he is to become. And that if he can hold onto his faith throughout it all these changes and this period of growth will not only benefit him, but his wife and child - my daughter and grandson - as well.
And with that I remind you ladies, that son-in-laws are sneaky. So watch closely and guard your heart, and just try and see if you can keep them from sneaking in :)
Whoo-ya to Private Joseph L. Wells, and his fellow soldiers, currently stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Delta Company, 1st BN, 34th INF REGT, 4th Platoon (Bulldawgs)! Thank you all for giving service to this great Country of ours - you are the true heroes!
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