Welcome
to the fold. All this time I had to shoulder the responsibility of looking
after my son. I’m glad you have come to take over.For years now he had turned
to me at every step. As a child, he brought all his 'battle’ wounds from the
playground, to me to dress. More than the medicine, he regarded my concern, my
kiss, as the healing touch.
He
ran to me when his pride was hurt or his desires spurned. I had to console him
and also convince him that life is not smooth sailing all along — that one has
to take the rough with the smooth. Mind you, all this without letting him feel
that I’m no friend of his.
He
would be up to all kinds of tricks — getting into trouble with his teachers,
our neighbours, his father. I had to shield him without letting him get away
with it. It required all my tact and diplomacy to bring him to the right path.
His studies, his extracurricular activities, his social outings—what a job it
was to get him to view each in its proper perspective.
Feeding
was a challenge to my culinary prowess. When he was a child, I had to marshal
all my imagination to cook up tales to divert his mind, I had to become mama
bear, jack in the beanstalk, the wolf, Snow White... As he grew up, I .had to
cook a variety of delicacies to cope with his appetite.When he fell sick, I
sat by his beside and prayed... every sneeze, every sniff of his would make me
anxious. Many sleepless nights I soothed his fevered brow and whispered endearment
as he clutched my fingers.
Yes...
it has been both agony and ecstasy. I have found fulfillment in seeing him grow…
from child to boy to man. Now I’m tired. I want to sit back and pray, to thank
God for his many mercies. But my son still needs a woman, someone who can give
him unsullied love; someone whom he can turn to for comfort and solace; someone
whom he can trust; someone who will egg him on to achieve the best in life. I’m
glad he has found that someone in you.
I
know you will take care of your husband the way he will take care of you. I
have traversed the ‘miles’ I had to and kept ‘my promises’. Now it’s your turn.
You will have my blessings all the time and my counsel when you went.
If
my son has a tendency to talk highly of me or often refer to my cooking, don’t
feel threatened or offended. You can’t expect a man to shake off the shackles
of a relationship which was bound with an umbilical cord. Don’t call him ‘mama’s
boy’ in disdain, if he wants to consult me at any time. The love he
has for you is unshakable. The love he has for me is so too. One has nothing to
do with the other. Keep it that way.
You
and I have one thing in common-our love for him. Like all the rivers that flow
into the ocean let us pool our love and pour
it into the one we both love!!
With good wishes
Your mother-in-law
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