Unfiltered Story #326668

Evil mother-in-law stereotypes to the contrary, my dad got along well with my mom’s mom. One thing they bonded over was their love of college football, particularly the Washington Huskies. My dad even made her a mix tape (in the 1980s), about half of which was the Husky marching band, along with other songs my grandmother loved from her youth.

Later on, my grandmother passed away, only in her sixties. As people filtered in to the church for her funeral, we had the mix tape playing softly–most were instrumental, especially the marching band songs.

Then came the song that my dad had included as a joke: “Mother-in-Law” by Ernie K. Doe. For those unfamiliar with it, the opening lines are, in part, “The worst person I know/Mother-in-law/She worries me so/Mother-in-law/If she would leave us alone/We would have a happy home/Sent from down below/Mother-in-law.”

It was exactly the levity we needed for the sad day. All of us–siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles–were soon laughing and telling funny stories about Nana.