Story for the Week
My brother-in-law Rodolfo moved in with our family almost three years ago. I remember picking him up at the airport almost seven years after the last time he visited (getting rear-ended by a car-service-that-rhymes-with-shift driver on the way 🚘). This time, he had a one-way ticket. I had no idea how long he was planning to stay with us, but when Dennis asked me if I minded if Rodolfo moved in for a while, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Rodolfo had visited us three times before he moved here. He was more of a kid (19 the first time), he wasn’t working, he was still studying law in Venezuela where he lived with his mom. He came for Christmas twice, and I remember the first time it snowed, he went into the back yard and rolled around in it. Corinne was only five at the time, and I have a video with her excitedly asking in the background if she could go out and do that too. (If you’re wondering, the answer was no. 😉)
We went sledding at a local hill that year, and Rodolfo and I raced. He captured as much as he could on video, and I have wanted to send it to America’s Funniest Videos ever since. One of these days, I just might do it because it was pretty freakin’ hilarious if I do say so myself.
During his second visit the following Christmas, his sister Stephanie came along. She hated the cold, and it didn’t snow the whole time they were here. I spent the vast majority of their visit cramming for an exam for an HR certification (which reminds me, I have to renew that this year). When I wasn’t cramming, we were having fun. Their cousin Andrew visited from Ohio while they were here, we drank shots of Trinidad rum, and a good time was had by all.
Life seemed simpler then.
When Rodolfo arrived in April of 2019, he had to find a job, enroll in school, all the things adults have to do in order to make their way through the world. And a couple of weeks after he arrived, Dennis was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Wasn’t that a kick in the stomach? It certainly wasn’t what any of us were planning for our futures, and considering they lost their dad to thyroid cancer when Rodolfo was about 11, not something he was expecting to deal with a couple weeks after moving to Chicago.
To say Rodolfo was a massive support through Dennis’s diagnosis, treatment, and loss would be an understatement. He went to appointments with us. He was a tremendous help around the house with Dennis. And I consulted him on every decision when we had to make decisions. He actually pointed out the urn we selected for Dennis’s ashes. It’s a mantle clock…because Dennis loved watches.⌚
Through that experience, we developed a bond a lot less like brother-in-law/sister-in-law. I tell him on a regular basis that this is his home for as long as he chooses, even though he continues to call his room “the guest room” to annoy me. He’s my emergency contact. We have driven one another to medical procedures and know way more about each other’s medical concerns than anyone would imagine for a BIL/SIL relationship. 😬🤐
I have asked his opinion more than once about updates I’ve made to the house. He has introduced me to very weird Japanese comedy shows that make me double over with laughter. And he has said to me multiple times when we’re talking about something, “Once I tell you, I cannot un-tell you.” And that’s ok.
People mistake how we’re related all the time, and I think it’s because we don’t act like BIL/SIL. And what prompted this particular post was when we were talking one day about how unusual it is for him to tell people that he lives with his sister-in-law – not his brother and his sister-in-law. Explaining how their dad remarried and had two more kids 31 years after his first, how Rodolfo came to move here, how we went through what we went through with Dennis, how he stayed here after his brother passed away.
What he said to me, and what sparked this Story for the Week, was “It’s not complicated. It’s just a long story.” So people will continue to mistake how we’re related…because it is a long story, and it’s not one you just blurt out to someone you’ve just met. (But telling a world full of strangers on the Internet is still ok. 😏)
He asked me if I was going to write about this in my blog, and I said I was. I just had to find a book review to go with it. I went back to something I read in 2019 by one of my favorite authors, and it’s all about people who make mistakes…so many tragic mistakes.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 stars for The First Mistake by Sandie Jones
322 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: June 11, 2019
I originally received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Minotaur Books.
Publisher’s Description
THE WIFE: For Alice, life has never been better. With her second husband, she has a successful business, two children, and a beautiful house.
HER HUSBAND: Alice knows that life could have been different if her first husband had lived, but Nathan’s arrival into her life gave her back the happiness she craved.
HER BEST FRIEND: Through the ups and downs of life, from celebratory nights out to comforting each other through loss, Alice knows that with her best friend Beth by her side, they can survive anything together. So when Nathan starts acting strangely, Alice turns to Beth for help. But soon, Alice begins to wonder whether her trust has been misplaced.
The first mistake could be her last.
************
Sandie Jones has done it again!
When I read The Other Woman, I remember getting to the end of Part 1 and posting that I was not expecting THAT (Does My Mother-in-Law Fit the Stereotype?), and I had the exact same reaction to The First Mistake! And then when I got to the end…holy cow, I did not see that coming! I saw a couple of reviewers who said they had it all figured out, but I think that has to be the exception. The story (mis)leads the reader in so many directions that I don’t know how anyone could call this predictable.
In regard to the actual first mistake, I’m not even sure whose first mistake the book is talking about because there were so many mistakes from so many characters.
The writing style is crisp, and the author does a great job of switching the point of view at exactly the right moment so you feel like you have to keep reading because you want to get back to the first point of view.
Whatever you do, don’t start this on a weeknight because you will be reading into the wee hours. This is a fantastic book, and I am already looking forward to the author’s next story!
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