I could be a horrible Mother in Law

I realized something as I drift off to sleep holding my sweet baby lastnight. He was giggling at me for no apparent reason other than he was fed and changed and happy to be next to me. He was just loving on me, his mother, the most important woman in his life.

It’s going to be hard someday to let my boys go and let them fancy another girl. I imagine that this is compounded by the fact that we’re an all boys family and there’s no other women (besides aunts and grandma’s who live more than a thousand miles away) to share their fancy with, and that I don’t have a daughter that I’d hopefully share the bond that I share with my own mother. The thought of them falling in love with some girl and loving her more than me already breaks my heart, and it could be decades away still.

And, oh no, the question “could ANY girl ever be good enough for my precious boys?” Is already haunting me. I know they’re not perfect mini men, but the woman I want sharing lives with my son’s and mothering my grandbabies better be pretty darn near perfect.

I hope I can be humbled when the time comes, that my boys live up to be good men and find the perfect girls for them, and that I can accept that I don’t have a say in who they choose, other than to teach them to have high standards before they reach that stage in life. I guess I have a few more years to get used to the idea, and raise some good boys to live up to and find those girls. I hope my boys are a lot like their Dad, in that once they’ve made their decision that they accept and respect her for who she is and are loving kind forgiving husbands, who are willing to do whatever it takes to keep things running smoothly as they raise a family together.

Someday I may even have to trust some woman, a complete stranger at the moment, to gently remind her husband to kindly call his mother and let her know what’s going in in his life every once in a while. She’s going to be the one that gets his hugs and kisses, and makes his meals (though I plan on raising boys who know how to make food even if it’s not too fancy, Kevin will have a hand in that since he’s already that kind of man, thanks to his wonderful parents) and takes care of him when he’s sick. She’ll be the one who sees him every morning and wishes him a good day, and I’ll have moved on, living on my life with my own sweet spouse. I’ll hopefully stay involved, but not too involved.

I’m very blessed to have a wonderful MIL (net lingo for Mother in Law), she has smoothly (from my perspective) let me take over as #1 woman in Kevin’s heart, and is just such a kind loving person all around. Of course she has her hang ups, we all do, but she’s so loving and respectful towards me, and I was even good friends with her before I even met Kevin, as she was my youth adviser in church and Kevin was hundreds of miles away serving our church when I met her. She’s loving and respectful and appreciative. I know I’m not that perfect daughter in law that my MIL would like for our Kevin, but she loves me regardless and accepts us as a family unit, and that’s all somebody could ever ask.

So that’s what I think about as I drift off to sleep.