I drove my spouse to visit his mother who lives near Pittsburgh this past weekend. It is not a fun trip; never has been. My mother-in-law lives alone in the house she has known for over 65 years, in a small, run-down community. At age 85, she is doing okay caring for herself, but…

… she has no one who lives near her to check on her and we worry. We make the 500-mile round-trip to see her at least four times a year, and sometimes more often. Unfortunately, while my spouse can drive again (since his illness prevented him from driving for 18 months), his health is still not quite fully recovered for him to drive on interstates with rushing traffic, trucks, and the inherent dangers of the exhaustion that driving such a long journey causes. While I go nuts driving a cage (car) for such a long trip, I did what I had to do — it is how I show my spouse how much I love him. We arrive in good shape and his energy level is not depleted, so he can be happy and relaxed to see his Mom.

Her house is in good shape. My spouse and I did a lot of maintenance chores during earlier visits, so we did not have to do that much to keep her house and its grounds in shape during this visit. Instead, we took her out to see a silly but fun visitor (picture grabbed from the ‘net here) … and also to several grocery stores.

It is difficult to cook an actual, nutritious meal for one person. Instead, for the past two years, my mother-in-law has resorted to eating crappy, cheap canned food. While made for humans, I wouldn’t serve a dog that slop.

While my spouse and his mother sat in the back yard enjoying rather pleasant weather, I worked in her tiny little kitchen preparing homemade meals — lasagna, chicken ciaciatore, stuffed shells, spiceless chili, and 3 meatloafs. While that does not sound like much, in her small kitchen, it took all day to prepare all of these dishes. But I turned US$75 worth of chicken, ground beef, pasta, cheeses, and vegetables into well-balanced meals. Once cooled, I divided them into single serving sizes and put them in freezer containers and stuffed her freezer from back to front. She will have enough meals to last her at least two months!

So instead of watching football or other drivel, I did what I do …

Life is short: show those you love how you love them.