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Dear Marian Robinson,
I know you are a very busy woman these days, getting ready for the big move, yet I felt compelled to write to you because we have some things in common. I too am a grandmother, but more importantly I live in a mother-in-law apartment and I understand you may soon be doing the same thing. Well, sort of the same thjng.
I only moved from one side of New Hampshire to the other into a mother-in-law wing built onto my daughter and son-in-law's home. You are making a move to something much more grand -- you'll be setting up housekeeping at the White House as mother-in-law to the president.
All I can say Marian (if I may call you Marian) is WOW! What must it feel like to move into a building so famous that people stand in line for hours just to come in and have a look around.
Of course, you'll be living upstairs with some privacy, but you know that the day you move in, the headlines will be big: OBAMA'S MOTHER-IN-LAW MOVES TO WHITE HOUSE! Not to put pressure on you, but the whole world wiill be watching to see how this arrangement shakes out, yet you can handle it because people refer to you as a well-grounded woman.
You are already a hands-on grandmother, but I can assure you thayour new set-up will be even better. I wouldn't change the last five years of grandchild time for anything. They now know me, faults and all. They have learned that I play the TV too loud, talk to myself, and don't have the foggiest notion what a Blackberry oran Ipod does, yet we get along fine.
One of the absolute essentials to moving this close to a daughter's family is an understand and caring son-in-law. You and I have hit the jackpot there because our daughters had the good sense to choose these men. Perhaps this shows we did something right in raising these girls.
You already know you will lose some independence and privacy once you've moved in. You will have to give up a few things. For instance, when I lived in my home and it was an unbearably hot August afternoon, It wasn't beyond me to pull the curtains and walk around in my house stark naked. I don't do that here, and I'll bet you anything that you won't be doing that at the White House, either.
Also, I don't suppose that if you run out of milk for a midnight snack, you'll feel free to toss on an old favorite robe and slippers and go downstairs to rummage in the offical White House frig for some. But you will manage.
I want you to know that even though the road ahead will be filled with world problems faced by your amazing son-in-law, I for one am going to sleep better at night knowing there is a grandmother in the White House. Remember how, during the presidential campaign, reference was made as to who would be best suited to answer the White House phone in the middle of the night? I wouldn't mind one bit if you did.
Well, Marian, I won't deter you any longer. I merely wanted to welcome you to the sisterhood of mother-in-law apartment dwellers. And if you ever reach a day when you want to be in touch with one of us, I'd be honored to hear from you. In the meantime, I wish you and your family, the very best.
SIncerely,
Joann Duncanson, PO Box 353, Greenland, NH 03840
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