May 5
Today was my mother-in-law's birthday. It usually is a good day but, since she passed away a few years ago, it's kind of really sad for me at times.
Eladia or Mama, as I called her, was one of those incredible, so called ordinary people, who truly embodied the philosophy of living an extra-ordinary life.
Before I married my husband I was a little nervous about meeting his mom.
Okay I lied, I was way nervous!
One of the advantages of having been best buds with my hubby before dating was that I already knew everything about his family.
I knew that his brothers were crazy, his sisters were nuts and his mom was the love of his life.
You could call him a mama's boy but he would deny it.
But to tell the truth he was so a mama's boy, in a good way!
He took care of her, loved and respected her.
The best thing about their relationship was that she had earned all those things and more, because she was an awesome lady.
She didn't dish out guilt or negativity. She was her children's best cheerleader and most ardent fan!
That was the reason I was so nervous about meeting her!
I was petrified that she wasn't going to like me and I felt that if she didn't like me I was done!
Mel postponed his family meeting me for a very long time. He told me later that he was afraid they would scare me off!
We finally decided that since we knew we were thinking of getting married, we need to go to the next level.
The first level was having our kids meet each other and get to know us as a couple.
So we planned a camping trip to the mountains where we could be alone and start to bond as a perspective family to be.
It would be just us and our 8 kids, (James had not come into the equation yet).
Well, at least that was what we had planned!
As it turns out, my hubby really wasn't the best at planning some things.
Our trip was planned for the Fourth of July week. I asked my hubby if he had reserved a camp site, he assured me that we didn't need reservations as there were tons of campsites!
I don't know about you, but this didn't make me feel too comforted.
The day we were leaving on our trip, Mel picked me and my up and drove to his condo to pick up his gear.
We waited for him there while he went and picked up his kids.
I was excited about meeting his kids, finally!
When his kids walked in, imagine my surprise when my son Eric ran over and hugged little Jose, as Jose jumped up into his arms!
Okay maybe this was going to be easier than I thought!
I knew my son was friendly, but I didn't realize how much!
The reality was that the term small world applied here, Jose and Eric had met and became fast friends at the junior trooper program that they had attended over February school vacation week. (Yup, another story for yet another day)
Eric, who was six years older than Jose, kind of took him under his wing.
Next in the door was Jess, 5 at the time, who instantly walked over to me, grabbed my hand and declared, "I'm sleeping with her!"
Yes, two for two!
Contestant number three, I mean kid number three was Cristina. She walked over to the couch and punched Alex in the arm as she said, "Hi, Alex!" Okay, way weird!
Oh, yeah, junior trooper program again!
Last in was Mel with little Alexi, 18 months at the time, in tow. I walked over to say hi to Mel when I wound up with 20 pounds of toddler flopping into my arms without warning!
Okay how much did you pay them to do this, Honey?
I was psyched! We were off to a great start!
Well that bubble quickly burst when we got out to the parking lot.
While we walked over to our rental van I noticed a large group of people, talking really loudly, laughing and most attention getting, drinking beers in the parking lot.
This normally I guess wouldn't have been a big deal except that it was only 8:30 in the morning!
I noticed that Mel all of a sudden was in a huge hurry to get out of there. He quickly ushered us into the van and was rushing us to hurry up and put our seat belts on so we could leave.
Where's the fire, baby?
As he put the key into the ignition I noticed a short guy from the group look over and start yelling in our direction, as he waved his arms frantically. The color drained from my husband's face.
"Honey, I think that guy is trying to get your attention." I said.
Cristina looked over to where I was pointing and said,
"Hey, Daddy isn't that Tio, over there?"
"I don't think so honey." He answered as he tried to floor the gas to drive off. The guy started running full tilt toward us and literally jumped in front of our van!
Stay tune tomorrow for part two of the gift of a mother's love!
Oh, stop hating me; you know you love the suspense! Lol!
