(Another sad post, already)

This has been a tough couple of months for my family. 7 weeks to the day after we unexpectedly lost my mother, we unexpectedly lost my mother-in-law. I tried to tell the kids that grief doesn't always pack a 1-2 punch like this. That often, you have some time to heal, and to adjust to a new normal, before something else happens.

But other times, you don't.

My mother-in-law Anna was a smart, caring, plain-spoken, hard-working Democrat who worked tirelessly for good causes in her red Kansas county. She loved her grandkids for who they were, and met them where they were. She was just here, only a few weeks ago, and she did 1000-piece puzzles with the youngest and let the oldest tell her all about computers.

When I was in Dublin in 2019, I saw a beautiful little glass bird necklace in a shop window, and put it in an Instagram post. Without saying anything, she tracked down a similar piece here in the US and gave it to me that Christmas. It's one of many ways in which I'll remember her.

She was a wonderful, thoughtful person and we will all miss her terribly. Thanks for letting me share a bit of her with you.

tina