I received many nice gifts from my mother and father-in-law, perfume, clothes, cash, and jewelries. But the best gift I ever got from them was their annual invitation to bring my mother to their home each Christmas. Soon my husband and I moved 3000 miles away, but whenever we were home to visit during the holidays, my mother-in-law never forgot to invite my mother and my younger brother to their home for the holiday dinner. This went on for many years until my in-laws moved out west and my mother moved to Florida to live with my younger brother.
I remember one particular dinner; my mother wasn't sitting next to me, she was sitting next to my father- in- law. My mother, with her broken English, was telling my father in law about her adventurous mishaps during her younger days and how she had lost her second child during WWII. Afterward, I overheard my father in law telling my husband that my mother has such interesting stories about her life and how he didn't know that she had survived the Japanese invasion of Vietnam during WWII.
The gift my father in law gave me was his time spent listening to my mother's stories. My older siblings and I seem to avoid my mother's stories from Vietnam since we came to the USA in 1975. My motive for not encouraging the stories was that I didn't want my mother to relive her loss of my sister during WWII, and my two brothers from an accident. But that particular dinner, my in-laws gave me the gift of a lifetime. They listened to my mother's stories without any conditions or restrictions. Both my father in law and my own mother had since passed away. My mother in law was a survivor of breast cancer. I am thankful for my mother in law's generous love for me. She included my mother because she knew it would make me happy. She gave me the gift of happy memories with my mother. I look forward to give my husband the same gift his mom gave me; spending time together and creating beautiful memories with loved ones.
My mother in-law passed away from breast cancer on April 20, 2009. Jacqueline, thanks for your kindness and love.
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