The In-Laws

For those of you who don’t know I live across the street from my in-laws.  Yes, that is right; I live in the real life Everybody Loves Brent!  My in-laws are great people they have taught me a thing or two, and I would like to share this wisdom with you.

Lesson 1: 

I find that love is something you learn more about with each passing day.  My husband and I moved to San Antonio after we had only been married a year.  One day I was watching the news with my in-laws and husband.  As we watched the weather, weatherman Albert Flores was on television.  My husband said, “Hey, did you know that Albert Flores is really the Spurs Coyote?”  I was a new Spurs fan and so I said, “What?  Really?”  I had disbelief thinking that he was too chubby to be in the costume, but then I asked my father-in-law.  A little background here, my father-in-law, may be the nicest man on the planet, and at this point, I thought he would never lie to me!  His answer was straight faced as well as a bold face lie, “Yes, Albert Flores is the Coyote; he has been doing it for years.”  That answer solidified it for me; Albert Flores was the Spurs Coyote.  For the next six months, until they finally came clean, I believed Albert Flores was in fact the Spurs Coyote!  I learned then, that Gravett love was funny, and put me at risk for being a fool.

Lesson 2:

Don’t leave your water hose unrolled in the yard, and fix the flag!  As my neighbors, my in-laws believe in keeping up the neighborhood, and so do I.  However, there is nothing like the phone call in the middle of dinner that says, “Can you believe our neighbor?  That house looks so tacky with the hose in the middle of the yard?”  My response, naturally, “Which neighbor?”  Then with a hearty laugh, the answer comes, “Yours! Go roll up your hose!”  Then there is the flag that constantly needs untangling.   On a side note, CONFESSION, I hate to make my bed.  I make my bed nearly everyday, but it is a fact that when I do not, my mother in law WILL come over!  I know there is a pride issue here, but I often think when I am standing in front of God Almighty, I am pretty sure, he won’t be asking me if I made my literal bed everyday! 

As far as a neighborly role, I often tease them that I am going to plant all fake flowers in my yard.  I also tell them for Christmas I will buy huge inflatable decorations that light up and sing loudly to drive them and their dogs insane.  In response, they say don’t waste your money, we will sneak over in the middle of the night and pop the inflatables and pull out those tacky flowers!  There is a constant banter of neighborly issues. “Did y’all take my water sprinkler?” The responses is always deny first, laugh hard, and confess later, much later!

Lesson 3:

This by far is the most important lesson, love without condition!  I have to say, I am honored and blessed to have such sweet in-laws.  They are shining examples of loving unconditionally.  My husband is there only son.  My mother-in-law told me very early on that she decided she was just going to like me no matter what.  To this day, even when we have a bad day, I know that at the end of the day she still loves me.  My father-in-law is my biggest ally when the evil twins get together.  (That being my hubby and his mom, I call them evil twins because they have the same sense of humor and are usually on the same page.  I will often get the same conversation from them separately in the same day.)  My in-laws are always giving to us, and to our daughter.  Their actions truly show their hearts and their hearts over flow with love for Brent, our daughter, and me.

While living so close to my in-laws we have our funny quirky moments.  We always seem to have a good time, and there is always laughter in our homes.  The laughter isn’t so much with each other as it is AT each other.   

Finally, I just want to dedicate this to my sweet mother-in-law, who called me last week and gave me some insight into our relationship.  It was at that moment, I knew I must do something special for her, and this is my little love letter to her humor, grace, and love. SO THERE!  :)