A new home for my mother-in-law

Last week my mother-in-law received dreadful news. She'll be thrown out of the cottage she rents because the owner's daughter cast an eye on it and fancies living there. She has until summer to find a new home.

This news didn't come totally unexpected. The owner's father had promised my mother-in-law she could live in that cottage for as long as she wanted. But when he came to die two years ago, this promise died with him. My mother-in-law had already picked up some rumours about the daughter wanting the house a couple of months ago. So she wasn't totally unprepared for it. But nevertheless the official announcement came as a total shock which was even aggravated by the blunt, careless and truly arrogant manner in which the owner came to tell her.

He barged into the house with a big cigar, polluting the air with the foul breath he belched forth. Then he asked for a drink. He didn't wait to be offered one, oh no! He wanted a drink.

- "Allright", my mother-in-law said, "I have water or orange juice..."

- "Don't you have anything else?", he asked.

- "Well...", my mother-in-law wittingly replied, "I've still got a bottle of Champagne in the garage."

- "Oh, that'll do nicely!"

And he meant it! Upon which my mother-in-law exploded and asked him whether she should really serve him a bottle of Champagne when he came to tell her he would throw her out of her house.

But there it is. Christine and I have already offered her the room of our B&B, even if it's only temporary. But in the end we believe that she prefers to stay in Flanders where all of her friends are, in stead of moving to a foreign country where she'll be much more isolated and where she doesn't speak the language. Today she's actually living in the same street as her other daughter and her two grandchildren, so that must hurt very much too.

Well, mum, the room's still available if you want it. It's up to you. In any case, Christine and I would like to send you lots of courage and support, even though we're 800 miles away. We're sure that in the end everything will be ok. Remember that we told you that you'll certainly find an even much nicer home? Just like Christine had to do two times in a row. When she left her ex-husband for me, she also had to leave the house of her dreams behind. But then we built an even much more beautiful house together. Which we sold in order to achieve our Italian dream. And now, we're living in this Italian paradise which you visited only two weeks ago. So if we can do it, so can you. Never give up hope. Keep believing in yourself and keep repeating that you've deserved a nice place of your own. And everything will be just fine. Just trust me! :-)

The following picture was taken last September. Do you remember that I told you that Christine had won this private concert from one of Flanders' most renowned artists? Well, here's Christine on the left, Paul Michiels (the famous singer) on her right, then Christine's mother and on the right is Jeroen, Paul's pianist...