Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Deep Kimshee

Linda is caught up in a struggle between her parents who are in their 90’s. Her father is in rehab and her mother, home alone is like a loose cannon. My wife and her sister live some distance and check in on her daily by phone and have to endure a raft of hateful venting and hostility that has become characteristic of my mother in law's state of mind.

My wife, Linda is a nice blend of the best in both her parents and has been the joy of my life for almost fifty years. Still, her mother’s tirades take an emotional toll. Her father doesn’t want to go home and keeps finding ways to extend his stay in the hospital. Does that sound like a Stephen King Novel?

Anyway when she gets to her wits end Linda will crawl up under my arm and we’ll joke and make light of a situation that isn’t all that amusing. On occasion it leads to an intimacy she refers to as “Snuggle Cheese and Squirt Wurst.” I’m not sure I understand the full meaning of those metaphors however, the tenderness is a brief respite in a struggle Shakespeare described as “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

I remember in college a friend of mine saying, “If you want to know how your wife will look some day check out her mother.” He was referring to physical appearance and if that’s the measure I’m blessed with a pretty good-looking wife. If however the message goes deeper I could be in deep kimshee.