My father-in-law

The day I met my father-in-law, Jeff was moving into a new apartment. Jeff and I were just starting our relationship, and I had been helping him do some cleaning in his new place. As I was scrubbing the bathtub, I slipped and fell in, which resulted in a huge bruise on my forearm.

After I explained what happened and where the bruise came from, my father-in-law said, "Is he worth that kind of damage?" I didn't know if he was serious or not, but I figured I'd take a chance and give as good as I was getting. So I said, "I'll let you know."

Every time I see him, he always says something to the equivalent of "if his son isn't taking good care of me, I should let him know." He knows he doesn't have to worry about that. Mainly because he knows by now that I can take care of myself. But also because he sees how Jeff treats me, and it's obvious that Jeff loves me.

You won't know my father-in-law long before you realize that he tells terrible jokes. The kind that make you roll your eyes. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine was telling me about how her husband isn't good at telling jokes, and she gave me an example of a recent joke he'd told. I was sharing that story with my in-laws, and before I could get halfway through the joke, my father-in-law picked it up and ran with it. He was quite familiar with the joke and thought it was hilarious.

I'll put up with the jokes, though, because I get a lot of free labor out of him. Every winter, my in-laws come stay with us for a few weeks, and I make Jim earn his keep! He's done so many nice things to our house. Things we never would've been able to pay someone to do.

I guess what I'm saying is that if I'm going to keep the son, I guess I'll keep the father-in-law, too.

Here are a few pictures I like of Jim: