Maggie and The Pickles

So, no news on the saw/ham thief...but my father-in-law did call the poh-leece and filled out a report. And, he has The Guy's phone number...so if it was him, he should be fairly easy to catch.

Of course, we don't know that The Guy who cut down the tree is the saw/ham thief...it's just all SO coincidental.

And, in the words of my Joshua: "I'm not blaming him, but he did it."

It got me thinking about my in-laws and some of the stories I've written about them. I write a lot of things for my children that cannot be made public...out of respect, for sure..but also because some things are too sad or intense or deep. And also because you know good and well that there are things in your family or your husband's family that if you made public...well, it would cause all kinds of hurt and completely damage relationships.

That being said...Jim's parents are SO interesting. And...well...let's just say that if Everybody Loves Raymond hadn't already been done...

Jim's parents both grew up with parents who grew up in the Depression. They saved everything. They never threw anything away. And they recycled WAY before being GREEN was cool. I'm talking...Jim's Mom has a purse that was made out of a Tide box.

A PURSE MADE OUT OF A TIDE BOX.

They save and re-use baggies and foil. They take the wax-paper bag out of the cereal box, cut it down one side and roll it up on an empty cardboard roll. There you go. That will be $2.97, please. The inside refrigerator is FULL of Parkay margarine tubs THAT AREN'T FULL OF MARGARINE. They are full of left-overs from days or a week ago. Blech. They don't believe in using paper towels. Instead, they use "rags," and not much gags me more than using a rag that has been used for ONLY GOD KNOWS WHAT in the kitchen. And for days.

No thanky.

Especially since I've seen the things that end up on their counters and sinks. There is usually at least ONE large bowl of fish...in various stages of, ummm...processing. Hopefully, it has been cleaned and is soaking in water...waiting to be bagged up or FEE-LAYED and put in the freezer. There is always, always, always a bowl of left-overs or SCRAPS of food...or fat that was trimmed off (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth) of meat. This bowl is for the dogs. Seriously. They feed it to their dogs.

And then there was that one time early in our marriage, when I walked over to his Mom's sink, and there was a long, furry TAIL hanging over the side. The sink was full of dead squirrels.

I am still not over it.

My mother-in-law, sweet as she is, saves things WAY PAST their expiration date. Canned goods...well, maybe. Depends on what it is. Cereal? Again...maybe. But they always tell the story of Jim's grandfather pouring his cereal into the bowl and little weevil looking things floated to the top. He shrugged his shoulders and ate them, too. "Fiber."

But meat? NO.

I have a sinking feeling that the half-a-ham that was stolen from the carport frig was meant for me...and that makes me wonder how old it was. If it was bought last Tuesday (please God please) then it was already a week old. But it COULD'VE been bought earlier than that. EEEK!

My mother-in-law loves shopping at The Krogers. Before that, it was another store where she lived. I can't remember the name of it, now. But, when Jim and I were first married, we would meet my in-laws for dinner at the local catfish place every Friday night. When we left, she would give us $20 and a 6 pack of Cokes.

REAL COKES.

That was back in the day when we could all drink real Cokes without worrying about fat grams and calories and sugar and words we couldn't pronounce. And we didn't have to have a nutrition degree to decipher the ingredients and we didn't really care anyway because yum.

And my father-in-law would go OFF on my mother-in-law and put on a show for his naive, city-girl daughter-in-law, and say things like, "do YOU MEAN TO TELL ME that with ALLLL the grocery stores in this town, Jim and Marty can't find no Cokes? Well, call the news."

Jim and I would make the $20 last alllll week. We would use it for "treats" like dinner at the Pizza Hut after church on Sunday nights.

Also, nearly every Saturday, Jim and I would meet up with Jim's mom and go to his grandparent's house in Hot Springs...about 30 minutes away. We both loved seeing Jim's grandparents and other family members, OF COURSE, but the other thing that happened each week was that Jim's Mom took us to the grocery store.

I've already told you that she lovvvvveees to buy in bulk. I think it's because of how she was raised...and because she has that care-taker personality, and wants to make sure everyone has everything they need. We were still in college, and working part-time, so we appreciated all of her help. The first year or so of our marriage, she would push the buggy around and say, "Marty, do you need _____?" And I don't care if we were on the last of whatever that was, or had run out 4 days ago, I would say sweetly, "no ma'am...no thank you."

But then I got real.

Real...HUNGRY.

I'm KIDDING.

We never went hungry!

After we left the grocery, we would all go over to Jim's grandmother's house for lunch. We would either pick up chicken from the KFC and bring it back to the house...or all load up and go to the Western Sizzlin'. And when I say we would ALL go...let me just say that when it came to lunch on Saturdays, EVERYONE SHOWED UP FOR THE FOOD. Just sayin'.

After lunch, we would head home and unpack our cans of Beenie-Weenies and boxes of oyster crackers and figure out the rest of our weekend.

This happened every week.

I realize this has nothing to do with the title of the post, but once I started writing...I realized I wasn't going to have room to write all about Maggie and the Pickles before I bored y'all to death and you gave up reading. I just want my kids to know and appreciate where they have come from, and to continue the legacy of generosity that was first started by their great-grandmother, Annabelle. She died before they were born, but my mother-in-law has told stories about her generosity to them when they were just starting out, and through the years as they raised their 3 boys.

We have been in situations where people are talking about their kids and they say, "oh we would NEVER do/give/help-with that," and some people raise their eye-brows. And if they say, we helped out kids/parents do this or that...some other people will raise their eye-brows. I say everyone should just shutty and realize that we are all products of how we were raised, and people make decisions based on that and their own convictions and PRAYER.

Not everyone has a MAMMAW JACK in their life. We can hear her in our heads, which is...well, it's creepy, first of all...but second of all, it's motivating. In fact, you've probably heard WWJD...What Would Jesus Do? In our lives, we say WWMD? What Would Mammaw Do? She has been SO generous to us and to Jim's brothers and their families, and not just with money or groceries...also with TIME and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and a bunch of other things...and that is why we are trying to pass on this same spirit to our own children. Not wanting to raise kids who feel entitled...but who are appreciative and excited about anything that is done for them. GET OVER IT, NOSY PEOPLE. It's not our business what other people do or don't do in their own families. Unless it's illegal. Then that's bad.

I'll try to write about Maggie and The Pickles tomorrow...or, another day.

And I have some Joshua stories that I need to post as well.

"He who is generous will be blessed..." Proverbs 22:9