His Girls

My mother-in-law shares a birthday with her eldest sister, Susie. As children of an alcoholic & abusive dad, the siblings in her family are tight. You take one, you get them all and there were six of them. There are only three left now.

My m-i-l and Susie were inseparable. When Susie's marriage failed, she moved into the Moody House with my in-laws. It was a split-level and my father-in-law converted the bottom floor into another house. Susie lived with them for nearly thirty years.

Susie even continued to live downstairs when her husband, Uncle Don, returned twenty years later & they remarried. It was perfect for everyone involved. The four of them lived together, traveled together and planned to live together forever.

Unexpectedly, Uncle Don died in 2005 right before Kevin was diagnosed. There was no warning, he was just gone. The family took a hit that we never expected.

About the same time my f-i-l was planning on retiring. This plan went on the back burner for awhile as he now had essentially two wives to take care of. The family was beginning to panic as we'd made plans for the parents to come live with us but we didn't have room for Susie too.

The family waited a year to broach the subject again. It was necessary for my f-i-l to retire but he couldn't do it and stay in the Moody House. It was a stressful time. Susie couldn't bear to leave her home, where she lived for so long and where she lost her husband.

We watched as Susie faded away in front of us. She withdrew further & further from the family, quite a feat when she lived just downstairs. We stood by helplessly. Finally, she wasted away and ended up in the hospital over the Thanksgiving weekend. She never came home. Three days in the hospital and she passed. Not only was she sick beyond anything we'd imagined, she willed herself to die so she could be with Uncle Don.

Now the retirement and the parents moving up here with us took a somber tone. But, as always, they persevered. The house was put up for sale and plans were made. Neither of them could stand to live in the Moody House without Susie.

Remember that they shared a birthday. Every year while they all lived together, my father-in-law bought two bouquets of flowers for "his girls" for their birthday. April came around and my m-i-l didn't acknowledge her upcoming birthday.

The birthday came. My m-i-l woke up to two bouquets of flowers. One for her and one for Susie. My darling father-in-law didn't forget His Girls.

We bought this song for my Mother-in-law's birthday, in honor of Susie: