🥰
What do you call your mother-in-law?
I call mine, “Mom.”
When do you call your mother-in-law?
I call mine a lot.

She’s the one who has done it.
She’s the one who handled most of Jason’s care for the years between breaking his neck and going to college.
She is the one who told Jason that he needed to hire a medical aide when we got married. She said that I was his wife and not his nurse. And that I would have plenty to do without being his primary caregiver.
She is the one who gets it.

And she chose to stand with me. With us. As we navigated accidents and injuries and trauma and joy.
She sat with me while I waited for Jason to come out of surgeries. We tag-teamed sitting by Jason’s bedside and bringing him lunch during his hospital stays. She traded off with my sister-in-law as they cared for 15-month-old Coleman during my life-threatening bout with gallstone pancreatitis. 

I’ve talked with Sophia hundreds of times over the years. Looking for advice and help and how-tos.
I often ask, “Mom, what do you think I should do?”
Her response, “You will totally make the right decision. I believe in you.”
Then she would add in why she thought I could do it.

She’s still the one who gets it.
The one I tell about every grieving moment.
The feelings I feel because I have a certain memory or someone sends a certain text about Jason or I remember a certain story.
I tell her all of it. Because she feels them, too. 
We remember and feel and love together.

God gave me two mothers.
He knew I would need them both.
Thank you, Sophia. Love you, Mom.💙✊🏻

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