When I'm Sixty-Four

When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out till quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

"When I'm Sixty-Four"The Beatles

I need to call my mother-in-law. She's 64 today. Funny how you mark time in another person's age: I remember how old she is by thinking about the fact that they boy and I had our first date the day before her 50th birthday in 1994. Therefore, she was born in 1944. Therefore, I can calculate her age based on the current year. Sound convoluted? Perhaps. It's one more example of my addled thought process.

She really is a blessing in my life. Perhaps the fact that we met when I was so young solidified her standing with me -- when my own mom wasn't someone I wanted to talk to about something, my mother-in-law was always one for a cup of tea and a good chat. It's still one of the first things we do whenever we get together: amazing how much is cured and talked over and accomplished with some face time and freshly brewed chamomile. I nearly always send email to her with the salutation "Dear Favorite MIL" -- it's a bit tongue in cheek but it's true. So many of my friends drew the short ends of the stick when it came to their mothers-in-law: whether it was a clash of personality or a different family's way of doing things, it can be an inevitably difficult relationship.

I have the best of both worlds: a mom who is awesome, and a mother in law who is awesome too.

Happy Birthday, Favorite MIL. I hope I can be all you are when I'm sixty-four.