Not Sure What I Did To Deserve My Mother-In-Law

But I am damned lucky.

Himself runs as part of a team in three big relay races a year. Two of these are out of town, and require him to be gone from Thursday or Friday morning through Sunday night.  The older the kids get and the more weekend activities they have, the harder it becomes for me to get them everywhere they need to go in his absence by myself.  I try really hard not to resent the fact that he has three long weekends a year away from home with his friends (there is another non-running related trip as well) because he spends all his other time either at work or with the kids and has essentially no friend time here, but I am not always successful.  It is a poor reflection on me that I can't just be happy that he is having fun and getting a chance to recharge his batteries with the guys, but I am small and petty sometimes.

At any rate, this was going to be one of those race weekends where I physically could not handle everything on the calendar by myself.  My wonderful MIL volunteered to come from her home an hour away and stay with me to help (my mother lives too far away, or she would have done the same.)  She came up Friday evening.  Early Saturday AM I took Thing One to a soccer tournament while she took the other two to their Rec soccer practices.  That afternoon she took Thing One to one birthday party while I took The Girl to another at the same time.  After Mass today we all went to Thing Two's soccer game, and then she stayed home to watch the younger kids and the dog while I took Thing One to his travel soccer game 60 miles away.  (Which is completely insane, by the way.)  We were gone for five hours.

By the time I got back, Himself was home from his trip and she'd returned to her house.  She had (on her own initiative) cooked dinner and dessert for the family, folded two loads of laundry, and emptied the dishwasher before she left.

When I count my blessings, this woman is high on the list.