This Saturday is my mother-in-law's birthday. Unfortunately she's not here to send a card too or surprise with a birthday cake and that makes me sad on more levels than I can properly describe. I miss her a lot. I was lucky in that I had a mother-in-law that was cool, very cool. She treated me like a daughter from the first time I met her. When theMan & I started dating the opportunity arose for us to go to California. I didn't have any money because I was in school and my mom was totally against it, but she gave me the $500 without batting an eye. That turned out to be one of the most educational trips I've had too. She barely knew me but loved her son so much that she wanted to make him happy. She was that kind of mom. She'd pretty much drop her life to help her kids. She was strong too. She didn't take a lot of shit from anyone. I respect her alot in that way. I miss her laughter too. Man, she knew how to laugh. She had the kind of laugh where she'd throw her head back and start gasping from laughing so hard. Some of my favorite times with her is sitting in her kitchen, telling stories and watching her lose it. She made my husband happy too. That's what really hurts.

I'm the kind of person that tries to see the positive. So the positives I see are that she made theMan into the person that I love dearly, she was a good friend when I needed her and she gave me loads of memories that I cherish. I just wish I could have told her thanks. If all I have is her memories then I plan on keeping those alive for as long as I can.