*Pause*
Before I go any further in this story, you all need to understand Trevor's family. And to do that, I am going to draw you all a family tree, because even I get confused.
Robert Green (Trev's dad) --- Michelle Green (Trev's mom)
Together, they had four children:
Zachary, Cameron, Aubrey, and Trevor.
Then, in 1998, Robert and Michelle got divorced.
Robert was a pilot in the National Guard, and later moved to Colorado to be closer to his kids and to be a helicopter pilot for a hospital.
Robert was killed in a routine maintenance flight in February 2001.
Shortly after Robert died, Michelle remarried and moved to Enterprise.
Michelle Green Hunt --- Eldon Hunt
Eldon had three kids from his previous marriage*:
Cody, Kayla, and Melissa.
Trev loved his step-siblings, and got along with each of them.
This was Trevor's childhood, so he grew up with them in Enterprise.
*Eldon's previous marriage was to a fabulous woman named Cheryl. Because of the good relationship between the kids and because Michelle worked hard to get along with Cheryl, Trevor would often go spend time at Cheryl's house with his step-siblings. Cheryl would tell Trevor that he was such a ray of sunshine in her home, and she loved him for it.
In 2009, Michelle and Eldon got divorced.
By this time, all of the older Greens had moved out of the house and there were no more step-siblings, so it was Michelle and Trevor a lot of the time.
In 2010, Michelle remarried and moved to San Diego.
Michelle Green Hunt Coburn - Danny Coburn
Danny has three kids from his previous marriage (I only know the two daughters).
Chase, Danae, and Jenna.
Danny is great, an awesome father-in-law, and I personally can't imagine Michelle being with anybody else.
Did you all get lost reading that? Yeah, it's confusing for me too sometimes.
*Unpause*
Anyway, the special lady that passed away was Cheryl, Trevor's ex-step-siblings mom. She fought a valiant and hard battle with a rare form of terminal cancer that she was diagnosed with in April. (If you want to read more about my first time meeting Cheryl a couple of months ago, as well as my thoughts on her getting cancer, click here or here.) Trev and I knew that when she passed away we would attend her funeral, so when we saw the Facebook posts, we made necessary phone calls to get work off for the funeral. As we lay in bed Sunday night, I asked Trevor if he thought his mom might come to the funeral. After all, she was Cheryl's friend and she used to be the kids' step-mom. Well, sure enough, we both woke up to texts from Michelle telling us she was coming for a quick trip to Utah, and would arrive on Thursday.
Being the good daughter in law that I am, I told Trevor that it would be great if his mom stayed with us even though she has plenty of family here in Cedar to stay with. Trevor agreed, and offered the option to his mom. Michelle loved the idea. We returned from fall break to hurriedly clean our apartment to make it presentable, and Michelle arrived on our doorstep Thursday, October 24, in the afternoon. I was originally nervous for her to stay with us, but it was a such a great weekend. Thursday night we ordered pizza and hung out. Friday morning we swung by Starbucks and headed to the funeral in St. George. It was probably the second most saddest funeral I've ever attended. I can't imagine losing a mom and having to watch her die from such an awful disease. Michelle, Trevor and I all shed lots of tears, especially when Cheryl's youngest, a four year old, said "I love you, Mom. I hope you like your dream home in heaven." But despite it being sad, it was also oddly uplifting. Even though I had only met Cheryl once, hearing stories about her and how amazing she was made my heart a little less heavy and made me want to be a better person. For example, since she planned her own funeral, Cheryl requested her favorite foods (pizza and rootbeer floats) for the luncheon food, and the closing song of the funeral service was "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Trees." She truly was amazing. The funeral gave me the chance to meet some of the family Trevor used to have when Michelle was married to Eldon, and we got the opportunity to talk to the lovely ex-step-father; he even gave me a hug. After the funeral, Trevor and I went with Michelle for our THIRD TIME IN A WEEK to Texas Roadhouse, and then headed home to Cedar City. We spent Friday night with her visiting family and hanging out.
Saturday was a lot more family time, since Michelle hadn't seen her family since our wedding.
*Pause*
Let me also explain something: I'm all about family, but Michelle's side of the family is so damn family-gung-ho that sometimes I want to poke my eyes out. They hang out together all the time. They have family birthday parties for EVERYONE, no matter how old they are. They have their arguments and attitudes, but it's so "Oh, I love spending time with my family!" it drives me crazy. I love my family and my extended family, but most times we spend one week a year with each other altogether, and then randomly see each other. I can only take Trevor's family in doses, but slowly I'm getting used to it.
*Unpause*
So Saturday, we attended Trevor's cousin Jaci's basketball game and then went to lunch with everyone. Lunch was full of raised tempers and awkwardness and children with rotten attitudes. I was ready to go home and not see another family member for weeks. Well, we ended up going to get ice cream with Michelle, Trev's aunt Trish and uncle Shane, and cousin Taylor. That wasn't too bad since it was all adults, and gave us more time to spend with Michelle.
Jaci's basketball game
Lunch at Brad's
Subzero with Michelle
Michelle left us early Sunday morning, and I'm happy to say that I think I have a great relationship with my mother in law. Obviously it's a relationship that still needs lots of work and time and effort, but I'm grateful for her. She has gone through a lot of shit in her life being married three times, but she's so open, loving, and relaxed about it. I'm not afraid to ask her questions. I feel totally comfortable with her and I love her to death. I am so grateful that she raised her son to be loving, gentle, kind and happy, even though a lot of his forgetfulness comes from her. ;)
Moral of the story? Having my mother in law in town wasn't too bad after all.
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