Saints and Angels

Happy Birthday, Mom! We hope you're having fun in Yellowstone! We love you!

If you are one of the unlucky people in the world who doesn't know Marlene, let me tell you what you're missing. The Sunday night before school started in August, I was a little down. I was having a hard time relinquishing my hold on all the relaxation and sunshine of summer. Something in my voice on the phone made that all clear to Marlene, without me having to articulate it. She pulled up in our driveway the next day with a bouquet of flowers, at the exact same time all my kids were gone and I was feeling lonely and ill-prepared for Fall's impending schedule.

A few weeks ago, I came home to find two bud vases with flowers and notes for Golda and Ruby, congratulating them on Nutcracker tryouts. This was the week after Marlene appeared out of nowhere with a grocery bag of the very items I had just forgotten at the store, along with the very flowers I didn't buy because they seemed too extravagant.

Yes, she's psychic. She instinctively knows when one of her own is in need, and always comes to the rescue. It's uncanny and amazing, and it's just one of many things about Marlene that I love. I could tell you all the other wonderful things, but it would just make you jealous that she's not your mother-in-law. Although...if Marlene found out you were envious of my good fortune, and that you felt left out, she would soon ring your doorbell, and her arms would be laden with all your favorite things. That's just who she is. (My parents have scored dozens of Marlene's Brown Sugar Muffins since my Mom mentioned how delicious they were back in 1989.) "What is done in love is done well," said Van Gogh, and Marlene does everything well. To perfection. How does she do it? It's all about the love, and we're all so blessed and grateful to be loved by a saint and an angel.