My Amazing Mother-in-Law, Pat Collins

For decades, if not centuries, comics having been making fun of mothers-in-law with great enthusiasm.

I was one of the lucky ones and my mother-in-law, Pat Collins, is an amazing woman who I love dearly. I have been with her son for almost 33 years and she has never failed to be there for me in whatever way I needed her to be.

Pat welcomed me into the family with open arms even though she was hoping “that woman” (me) did not keep her son away from the ancestral home for Christmas. We got to know each other and the love grew as she understand how much I loved her son and was in it for the long term. Pat has three daughters-in-law and she has been through a lot with all of us and our individual ideas of having babies and subsequently rearing them. Pat had a daughter and four sons so she was not without some experience in these areas.

Pat patiently listened to our ideas and never told us what to do she showed us by example and all 7 of her grandchildren love her dearly. They may not remember her dangling car keys in front of them or giving them a teaspoon of homemade Tia Maria when they were fussy but we sure do.

We would all go to the “farm” frequently because Pat was there to help us with our young ones and to make us all feel that we were the only people in the world that mattered. This is a gift and one of her many gifts.

As they grew up Pat was always there for all of us and knowing you are loved by this incredible women gives you a great sense of safety and peace.

Recently there was a family wedding in Toronto of one of Pat’s sons but Pat was unable to attend as she was in the hospital. Her good friend, Bridget, went to the hospital to visit Pat and they watched the whole wedding on Skype.

Pat, hopefully, will rally yet again as none of us are ready to live in a world without her.

Pat has a kind, loving, nurturing, generous and giving spirit which even extends beyond her family to anyone that she believes needs help and Pat has been looking after other people from the time she was in her teens and brought her younger brother to Canada to avoid the war in England where they were born.

I am happy and so proud to know that this wonderful spirit lives on in my daughter.

She told me yesterday that she loved us all so much and she loved my husband’s (her son’s) face. I said “so do I because he looks exactly like you”. She also told me that when he left yesterday to come home to Ajijic, Lake Chapala, he had left a letter for her which she thought read like a goodbye letter. Pat said she was going to fool us all and there would be another family reunion soon.

I am praying that this is true. We are all so lucky to have this amazing woman in our lives and none of us are ready to let her go.