Good vs. Evil

Today, I caught the end of the movie "Ever After." It stars Drew Barrymore as Cinderella, and it's one of my favorites. The humor is right up my alley, and the wicked are truly evil. A great flick.
Toward the end of the movie, Cinderella asks her evil step-mother if there was ever a time when she loved her. The woman's response is, "How can a person ever love a pebble in her shoe?", which crushes Cinderella to the core.
It made me think of my mother-in-law. She married Andy's dad shortly after Andy's mother died when he was not yet 5 and his brother 2 years old. She moved into her home, ate off her dishes, and sat on her furniture. She worked to pay of the hospital debt left without a complaint and, without going into too personal information, dealt with relatives on all sides who were non too happy with the marriage.
And she raised Andy and Bruce as her own. The term "step" never was uttered in the house, and the family grew to include two more children. Now, I imagine there were days when being Andy's mother was not fun - after all, his mommy had just died and he had a lot of adjusting to do. And yet, he was her son. She gave up her homeland to become an American in case the boys ever had to go to war and had to fight. She gave up many other things as well, and never complained.
I don't tell her often enough how much I honor her and love her; outside my own grandmother, she is probably one of my earthly heroes. She is 83 now, and she and my father-in-law have had a happy marriage. Just like Cinderella and her prince, they have lived "happily ever after." And they deserve it .