Journal of a Living Lady #169

 

Nancy White Kelly

 

          The wedding is getting closer. In less than two weeks I will be a mother-in-law. I feel totally inept. No education. No experience. No manual. So, how do you learn to be a second-fiddle mother?

 

Buddy’s mother passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 98.  She was a good role model. Mother Kelly never interfered. She gave advice only when asked. Unfortunately for Tori,  I am not Mother Kelly or Mother Teresa. I am Charlie’s mother. I have been since the day of his conception and will be forever. Not even death will sever that bond. The good Lord willing, I’ll be standing on the balcony of heaven waiting patiently for my boy to complete his part on the grand stage of life. Not too soon I hope.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that my role as a mother has changed now. Charlie is grown. My role will change even more when he is married. Still, my love for Charlie is no less today than it was the day he was born.

 

He was our miracle baby. After three miscarriages, a heart attack, and a knock-down-drag out refusal to have a hysterectomy, Charlie arrived in March of 1980. He was the baby I was physically never supposed to have. God had different plans.

 

Being the modest mother I am, I will not tell you what a fine young man he has become. I can’t deny that Charlie has made his dad and I proud.  No doubt he will be a wonderful husband.

 

Tori is a fine girl also. Her own mother and dad will attest to that. Rightfully so. From what we have observed, Tori and Charlie are a good match. There share so many similarities, it is uncanny.

 

 Mrs. Hooks and I were ladies-in-waiting at the same time. Charlie and Tori grew up living only an hour away from each other, yet never meeting until college. They had comparable experiences in high school and both were selected for identical state and national honors.

 

Charlie and Tori are musically talented. His forte is piano. Her instrument is clarinet. They are devout Christians and of the same denomination. Each spent summers during high school and college working with children locally and abroad.

 

Neither Charlie nor Tori originally intended to attend the college they did, yet both had friends who influenced them to consider TFC. Charlie and Tori won academic scholarships and were education majors. During their sophomore year, mutual friends nudged Tori and Charlie together socially. First came love. Now comes marriage. Ironically, after the wedding, both will be teaching science. Different schools, same grade, same text book.

 

Now, back to the mother-in-law issue. What can Tori expect of me?  What she has seen is what she gets. I can’t be anyone other than who I am. The same goes for her father-in-law. Buddy is just Buddy, 24/7. We will love Tori as a daughter. In fact, we already do.

 

 I can’t imagine Tori being anything other than an excellent wife for Charlie. Considering we love the same guy who loves us both, Tori and I should get along quite well.

 

While you are canning the summer squash and beans, please can all the mother-in-law jokes you have heard. Bury them good. Hopefully Tori won’t ever have a need to dig them up.

 

 

 

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nancyk@alltel.net for June 20, 2002