The Story of Her Life, by Lori Roberts Herbst

 

As I am writing this, my 93-year-old mother-in-law is in the last days, maybe hours, of her life, and it’s hard to think of anything else.

I’ve known Marilyn for about forty-five years, have been married to her youngest son for forty-three of those years. She’s been my mother-in-law for two-thirds of my life, and she’s never treated me as anything less than a valued part of her family. We are quite different in many ways, but that hasn’t gotten in the way of our mutual affection. Besides, we are similar in enough of the important ways to bridge any potential gaps. 

There is a saying that we are all the protagonists of our own stories. Marilyn’s story began in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. She occasionally talked of waiting in line for rations, of getting milk and ice deliveries, of playing outside in the heat of a Chicago summer and the chill of a Chicago winter. She married at age 19 and gave birth to the first of her five children when she was just 20. Her life revolved around raising her family and doing what needed to be done. But she also knew how to have fun. She and my father-in-law had a broad network of friends with whom they played golf and cards and bowled. When they retired, they traveled extensively, often to see us and their grandchildren. When my father-in-law passed 18 years ago, Marilyn seemed a little dazed for a while, lonely, as to be expected. But she persevered. She took care of their house, their family. She went to lunch with friends. And a couple of years ago, she moved into an independent living apartment and began a series of new adventures.

Hers has been an ordinary life—no remarkable wealth, no fame or celebrity. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there can be extraordinary value in an ordinary life.

In my own story, the one in which I’m the protagonist, Marilyn has served as a stalwart supporting character. She never plied me with unsolicited advice but rather encouraged me in every aspect of my life, from being a mother and wife and teacher to my most current venture: author. When I started writing and publishing cozy mysteries, she was delighted. She read and raved about each book and even placed a set of them in the senior center library, nagging her friends to check them out. She was one of my greatest champions.

And now we are in the process of saying goodbye to her. It’s like reading the last chapter of a book you don’t want to end. But it’s a book that tells a full, rich story. And when we finally close the back cover, we will be all the better for having read it.

The Callie Cassidy Mystery series is available on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

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Lori Roberts Herbst writes the Callie Cassidy Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in Rock Creek Village, Colorado, and the soon-to-be-released Seahorse Bay Mysteries, set in a Texas cruise port town. To find out more and to sign up for her newsletter, go to www.lorirobertsherbst.com