Communityorner

Submitted by DeNaya Green

When I tell people that my mom and my mother-in-law live together, their jaws drop, they stare at me in disbelief, and mutter, “What?” Then I tell the story of how these two special ladies became roommates.

A few months before I got married a year ago in October, my future mother-in-law, Marty Green, offered to rent her Huntington Beach home to me and her son, as the house was just too big for her to take care of herself. She had recently lost her husband, a week after I started dating her son, and was now alone in a five-bedroom house. Marty decided it was time to make a change.

She was considering moving to a senior living community, as some of her friends had done. I was ecstatic when Marty extended this generous offer, and told my mom about it immediately. I said, “Guess what? Marty said we can move into her house!” My mom replied, “Where’s she gonna live?” I shared Marty’s plan and my mom suddenly blurted out, “Why doesn’t she just move in with me?”

I was raised by my mom and her mother, Glorya. My grandmother moved in with us when I was 5, and we lost her to cancer in 2004. Since I was the only unmarried one of my mom’s three daughters, my grandma’s dying request was that I move in with my mom, at least for a while, so she wouldn’t be alone.

Shortly after that, I finally met the man I wanted to marry in my hometown, where both of us grew up. After I got engaged, I worried about leaving my mom alone, despite her youthfulness and good health. My husband was also worried about his mom living alone, but serendipity eased our minds when our mothers agreed to live together as both new relatives and new friends.

Happy Mothers Day, Moms!

Love, DeNaya and Jim