After years of therapy trying to figure out why my own mother didn't like me, I met my mom-in-law. She taught me true love between a mother and her daughter. No games, no nonsense, just a real back-and-forth relationship that I was so deeply longing for. We didn't always see eye-to-eye, but that was part of the charm:   she still loved me even if I didn't agree with her. I was NOT used to that at all!

She just passed last February, and it is awful without her support and kindness, but I know she would want me to keep enjoying my life as she did hers. Part of the reason I married my husband of 21 years was his mom -- she made a huge difference in my life and in that of my two sons as well. We miss her greatly.

Linda