In laws

My as good as Mother in law( we have no notion after 6 years) is a very interesting  person. She grew up in the US before moving to rural Ireland with her husband. She wasn’t that bothered about marrying  but felt she should do it as they were definitely not open minded around here at the time. The first priest she rang asked her could she prove she hadn’t been married already in America, when she said she couldn’t he said ‘What are you ringing me for?’ and hung up . She rang another priest who was far more obliging No shortage of them around the place that time so I think she would have kept ringing until she got one to suit!

They had two children who were most certainly a surprise . She worked as a bookkeeper for a local fish factory ,giving up while the kids were little. Driving since she was nine or ten as her Dad was a mechanic with a car lot, she had her own car.She used to have to pick up messages and drop them to the neighbours on her way home.from work

Seperating from her husband she moved to a local seaside town , taking her daughter. Her son stayed. The impression I got was she wasn’t happy that the grandmother who lived with them had started to show too much favouritism towards her grandson. She would give her granddaughter coins and her son notes. The children didn’t notice at the time but their mother was wary that they would start . She told her  she appreciated her giving the money but she would rather she didn’t if she was going to give them different amounts. I’d say there was other issues with favouritism due to the old fashioned notion of the son especially the firstborn or one who didn’t emigrate getting the farm. She went back to work as a bookkeeper and eventually bought a house.

 Her husband had been in an accident years ago-he got married on crutches.A lady in a rush for mass sped around a bend on  the wrong side of the road flinging him and his scooter  into fuchsia bushes. His legs were badly lacerated requiring a long recuperation. He had been to the US and asked his son to bring him up to see the cows. On the way back he collapsed and died in the tractor. They reckon the flight and residual damage from his accident lead to it.

She is leaving her house to her daughter as her son got the farm and family home. There’s still a little tension over this. His mother had to sign out as she had a 6^th of it but would have liked if he had given his sister a site. She bought her own house in one of the bigger local towns. She is very happy there but I’d say still a little nostalgic for her life on the farm.I don’t know for sure if my boyfriend gave her money but I think he might have.He values the land and not having to confer with others re rights of way etc so I think he would have preferred to pay her off in a sense as she would value money more than him.

She definitely is a strong minded woman though. As we’ve found out when trying to get her to accept home help and physio after she had been in hospital for a circulation problem. And she still does my boyfriends accounts even though she says he should be thinking about getting a replacement. She texts and emails better than myself .