I got some flowers the other day.... And no, not from Mr Cool, from his lovely mum. (Mr Cool used to buy me magazines instead of flowers... Hint hint... Frankie...) I should have taken a photo when I got them, they have wilted a bit... But it is nice to add my own photo, right?
I know you are meant to not like your mother-in-law, but I really love mine. She is always trying to keep up to date with things: she texts, she emails, she writes, she cooks... I guess, she is like a more gracious and mature version of me - so she must be cool.
Last week I did a job for her. In true B fashion though, I didn't do the EXACT job she asked for, I did WAY more.... sigh.... But, she was grateful and she bought flowers for me. Lovely. I love having someone in my life who is from a different generation. Where flowers say 'Thank you' and 'Sorry your cat died', and 'Well done for having a baby'. It is nice.
My mother-in-law also sees me as a fashion guru - WOWSERS! She recently bought some clothes and told the shop assistant that she may have to return them if I did not think they suited her! She brought them here and tried them on so I could give my opinion. Very Cool... She is always really well 'turned out' and takes a lot of time planning each season's wardrobe. Her bag and shoes always match. She always wears real gold ear-rings. Her nails are always painted. Her hair is always perfect. Her lipstick matches whatever she is wearing. I just don't know how she gets it altogether, all the time...
When we venture out, I often feel like the schlupped together tagalong with my mismatched bag and shoes, jauntily applied lipgloss and, of course, jeans.... I don't wear ear-rings or necklaces very often as Baby Cool likes to pull them, the last time I put nail polish on, it was done by Miss Z at the Mother's Day Pampering Session at Kindy. My make-up is applied the same way every day in 2 minutes flat, I don't get eye-shadow and blush requires too many bottles and brushes... Sigh, sigh, sigh...
Don't get me started on the cleanliness of her house either.... She does things once a week that I do... once... a ... ummm... year? She is fastidiously clean, tidy and organised, so in that way, we are different. Thankfully she passed this on to Mr Cool, so our house is not quite as chaotic as it would be if it were just me bouncing around inside all day...
My mother-in-law and I are in different seasons of life and she has the time and the energy to put into her wardrobe, appearance and domestic blissness. I am flat out cutting sandwiches into kinda equal shapes and remembering to ensure I have a matching pair of shoes before racing out the door for the school run.
I like knowing that in time, I too will have time. I like knowing that my mother-in-law has done the hard yards that I am doing now, and she has the chance to ease some of my busyness. She revels in helping with the girls, she does the school run once a week and has the girls for sleep-overs.
Thanks Grandma Cool.... Thanks for being my mother-in-law, thanks for being an adviser, thanks for loving my kids, thanks for making such a great son who is now such a great husband and father, thanks for being my friend. Mwah!
PS - if you think that I don't love my mum as much, let me trawl through some old posts and find something I wrote about my lovely mum....
PPS - actually all I could find was THIS one, and it is more a reflection of what it was like trying to raise me.... My poor mum. I will add it to my list to write a post about my dear mum. She is pretty cool. It will require pictures, lots of pictures.
