Not enough branches in my family tree

You may have noticed that I don't mention my mother-in-law much. I need to say up front, she is an amazing woman. I love and adore her, but most of all I miss her. My sweet Rocket Scientist lost his mother to cancer about 6 months after we got married. Ruth was her name. She fought cancer like a master ninja. In the end, though, I think it was just her time to go. God must have needed her more there than here. So, even though there are days it breaks my heart that she isn't here to meet 8 of her 11 grandchildren I know that there must be some Divine purpose in why she is there instead of here. Who knows, maybe she was one of the angels desperately working behind the scenes to help us get our children. (Trust me there were angels employed. Adoption is a miracle all of it's own.)

Ruth was from a holler in West Virginia. I love to hear the stories she told of her growing up there. She was kind enough to record a lot of her memories in both the written and audio formats. It really is a treasure to have. One of the things she talked about was that most of the people that lived in the holler were related. Everyone was related to either Hackney's or Hurley's or both. Before you were allowed to have a crush on someone, you had to figure out how far removed that family member was. (I know many of you are either laughing or cringing.)

Well tonight when we were out and about with our Sea Monkeys, the Wild Child was talking about how Mom and Dad lived together before we had kids. Then she proceeds to say that we even lived together when we were kids. The Rocket Scientists zooms in on this and says, "Your mother and I did not live together before we were married." The Wild Child's response to that, "Yes, you did! Mom was your sister!" The Rocket Scientist is now trying to control his need to laugh. "Baby, Wild Child, your mother is not and was never my sister!"

"Dad, she was too. Mom is your sister!"

"Nope, Wild Child, Grandma Ruth grew up in West Virginia, not me."

You would think after a conversation like this that the RS might have made some sort of head way, but no. She went to bed tonight, honestly believing that the RS and I are brother and sister.