On to Better Things

Into each life a little rain must fall. My sweet mother-in-law , Barbara Collins, died during the night. Although she had diabetes and some other health problems, her death was sudden and quite unexpected. Just this week Ed had made arrangements to go visit his mom, but that was not to be. He is on his way to Maine right now to be with his sisters during this difficult time.
Barbara was a great lady. She had a beautiful soprano voice and loved to have all her children (including me!) sing with her. No matter what the conversation was about, Mom would start singing the lyrics of some song that pertained to the theme at hand! I really don’t know how she knew so many songs, but it was an endearing quality!
My mother-in-law was an adventurer. She trained as a nurse in the 1950’s and after graduation she and one of her friends traveled across the country from Maine to California by bus. By the time they got to California they were broke. . . and so dirty that they had to go to a YWCA to clean up before they went to the hospital there to see about getting jobs! They were hired immediately. After a summer of working, they returned to Maine to settle down and be responsible young women. Oh, but what fun they must have had!
Barbara loved to play cards. This was the social activity that she had with her friends. I don’t know what games they played, although I think they probably had quite a repertoire! I always loved hearing about the outings with the “Jolly Cards.” What a riot! Apparently Barbara had just played cards with her friends the day before her death. As Ed loves to say (which he learned from his mother), “She died with money in her pocket and plans for the weekend.”
Whenever we were home, we enjoyed going out to eat with mom and Judy. It didn’t really matter where we went after the Pilot’s Grill closed, but we always had fun. We would enjoy the meal and sometimes a little dessert. As we were all sitting there stuffed to the gills, Mom would invariably say, “Well, that was good. What’s next?” I think she would have the same attitude about her life.