Peas in the Layered Salad

My father-in-law passed away late yesterday evening. He would have been eighty-one later this spring. His eldest son, my husband, passed away just over two years ago, and I think the loss of his son hastened his passing. In my husband's younger years, he had been a source of great tribulation to his parents, but shortly before he and I married (eleven years ago), he turned his life around and became a source of great pride to his parents.

I did not meet his parents until several months after we began dating. We were invited to eat lunch with them one Sunday after church. By then, we were engaged, and he had become a member of my church. We drove to their house after church, and sat down for the meal. His parents were very kind and gracious, and his mother had obviously worked to prepare a meal for us. She had made a layered salad, and one of the layers in a traditional layered salad includes green peas (also known as English peas).

I do not care for green peas, but will eat them if they are included in another dish. My future husband knew how I felt about the peas, so when the salad was passed to me, he was surprised when I put a helping of the salad onto my plate. He was a sweet man, but he could also be too blunt and outspoken on occasion...and this was one of those occasions. He looked at me and asked if I was going to eat some of the salad. I said that I was, and then he said that if he were me, he wouldn't eat any of the salad. I tried to communicate to him--without speaking--that he should hush and let me eat the salad! We were sitting across the table from each other, which prevented me from kicking him under the table. Of course, being the person he was, he probably would have asked me why I was kicking him!

The meal turned out well in spite of everything, and I remained close to both his parents after my husband's death. Until my father-in-law became too weak to stand and/or walk, he always greeted me with a hug and a kiss, and told me that he loved me. His memory began to fail even more rapidly after my husband's death, and he frequently asked his wife if my husband was really gone. My prayers for his healing were answered yesterday...and I am sure that my husband was standing at Jesus's side when my father-in-law was welcomed into heaven. He probably said "Hey, Pop! Let's go see Nana and Papa! We've all been waiting for you to get here!"