Translated…
When my son started stuttering in the phones, “Mom…my girlfriend’s pregnant…what, do I do? Should we, get rid of it?”, I’d opened up my voice, hollered out with glee, “Congrats! I’m going to be a grandma! And, your grandparents are in their eighties now, you’d made their dreams of becoming great grandparents come true, this child came at the right time, don’t do anything rash, or stupid you here!”
not my photograph…
I’d immediately LINED my son’s girlfriend, and told her to go home and tell her parents about this good news and start discussing the matter of marriage. Very soon, the events flowed quickly by, the parents met, and set up the day for the man to ask the father of the bride for her hand, calculated the number of gift bags we’d needed, had the wedding photos taken, found a restaurant for the banquet………this quick tempo had, made my in-laws grin from ear to ear. My father-in-law’s friend had commended, “Your son is really great, allowing his grandparents to become great grandparents this soon!”
My son is twenty-seven this year, right at marrying age, but, he’d still wanted to live a bit before he’d settled down, when the night rolled in, he’d told my wife and I, “Mom, are you, really glad, that you’re about, to become a grandmother? Actually, I’m not quite ready yet, I’m afraid, that I won’t be, a good dad.” I’d told him, “This, is one of the rites of passage in life, don’t worry, just keep looking forward; you will learn to tolerate, and to be kind to your wife in marriage, and, there’s this one more cherished baby in your lives, you will find, that all of your emotions, are made even more meaningful, because of this new life. Just like how in our thirty years of marriage, we’d had a share of warmth and sweetness from life too!” On the day they were engaged, when my beautiful and open daughter-in-law flashed her sweet smiles, and brought the sweet tea offering to in front of me, I’d taken this warm cup of sweetened tea, my eyes turned red. I’d gotten an extra important role in life now, because my son will be carrying upon his shoulders, his own family, and, after this cup of sweet tea, I would’ve gained a lovely daughter-in-law for me to spoil, this reminded of my own past. Once I sat in the yard, drinking coffee with my mother-in-law, she’d stated, “Li-Hua, I think, not having a daughter is really bad for you, but, if when your son gets older and married, and his wife doesn’t treat you as well as you’re treating me, you would have it, very hard.” After that, my mother-in-law covered her lips and started smiling, “But I don’t think you will, I’m sure, that you will have, a wonderful daughter-in-law, just like you are, in my mind!”
After many years, it’s finally my turn, to get to, drink that cup of sweet tea from my own daughter-in-law, I am willing to, open up my arms, let my daughter-in-law know, although I’m her mother-in-law, but, I’m more than willing, to be her friend too, to be her backup. Because she’d given my son a complete home, passed through the trials of his life alongside him, I’m even more grateful to her, for fulfilling my regrets of not having a daughter.
not my photo…
Perhaps, the trial period in their marriage is only starting, but I really believe, that this family where “love is the heritage”, and my daughter-in-law’s side’s “getting along well, living simply”, is similar in the cores, having this much blessing from all our families and friends, children, you two must make it work, live well together, grow old happily!
And so, because this woman has a great mother-in-law, therefore, she is more than likely, to be a good mother-in-law too, because she’d taken the way her mother-in-law treated her, with kindness, to treat her own daughter-in-law, and this, would be what a family that gets along well looks like.
Life, the Obstacle Course 