I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother-in-law, Joyce, recently, in part because of a found letter. She has moved twice in the last five years, which has to be disruptive. In April 2020, her husband Richard died; a little over a year later, she moved to a senior living center near Albany.
Then, in March 2025, she moved to another location in the Albany metro area. She had to shed a lot of items, so after her last move, a whole bunch of her stuff ended up in our living room.
We came across a letter she had written to the widow of her late son John from March 2004. She must have made a copy or printed it twice, which I found charming. I did something like that in the ’70s and ’80s, using carbon paper.
The letter was very newsy. She mentioned that my wife was due with our child in short order. The twins had turned three, and the other granddaughter, MP, was a tad younger, but they were all thriving. I recall that she was a very good grandma.
When MP became the first of her granddaughters to get married in April, my MIL was invited. But it would have been an onerous trip. My wife and I took 7 1/2 hours to travel from Albany to southern Pennsylvania.
Two weekends later, the bride and her new husband came to visit grandma, and it wasn’t one perfunctory visit. They saw her four times in two days, which made Joyce very happy. She was also thrilled that the young couple could use some of the furniture that won’t fit in her new space, as she desires to keep the items in the family.
Photograph
Here’s a picture of Joyce’s four granddaughters, probably taken by my late FIL in 2006 or so, and embossed on a handful of mugs. Everyone in the family seems to love this photo. Interestingly, the shortest is now the tallest, and vice versa.
Happy Mother’s Day to Joyce, Carol, Leslie, Marcia, Tracy, Leanne and all of you moms out there.