Her name is Ruth and she's a very sweet lady. And, she's not just my mother-in-law, she's also my friend. Seriously, in the almost 36 years I've been married to Grandad, Mama Ruthie and I have never seriously butted heads or gotten crosswise with each other.
She was widowed several years ago and, shortly after that, she sold her house and moved into our neighborhood. It's nice to have her nearby. She's closer to her doctors and we can get there fast if she needs us. She joined my bunco club. We take her to dinner on Friday nights and we pick her up for church every Sunday morning. Then we go out for breakfast after church. So I see her on a very regular basis. At almost 81 years old, she is still mostly healthy and able to drive and live independently. You would never know her age from meeting her or talking to her. She's still sharp as a tack.
But to tell you the truth, I've been a little worried about her lately. It all started when I saw this sign on a door in her kitchen.
Okay, at first I didn't think too much about it. After all, it's the door that leads to the utility room and the garage and the trash can is out there. And the grandchildren might be a little bit lazy about keeping the door closed. Maybe she thought they would close it more consistently with this little reminder. That was several weeks ago.
Then last weekend, all of her sons met at her house for a work day. They trimmed trees, planted shrubbery, redid the flower beds, repaired the storage shed, painted and just generally worked all day. The wives met there for lunch and then we went out for a little sister-in-law time, running errands, shopping, and, of course, a lot of talking. While we were at Mama Ruthie's house, I went to use her bathroom and saw this sign.
In case you can't read it, here's a close up of the sign.
Now, my mother-in-law doesn't live alone. One of her adult daughters lives with her and her other daughter and two of her granddaughters are frequent visitors. But, they're all females and, in my experience, women are not usually lax about flushing toilets. So, after I thought about it for a while, I had to ask what the heck was going on. Not pictured here, but on plain display in the hallway is a sign on Laurie's bedroom door that says "LaLa's Room."
When I asked her, my mother-in-law informed me that MacKenzie, one of her granddaughters put the signs up and it's not the first time she's put similar signs up. Maybe she's a tiny bit obsessive-compulsive. But she's really smart and just got selected for her middle school's varsity choir.
This is my niece MacKenzie ... I'm very proud of her, but now I'm also a little worried ...
