My third daughter, along with my new son-in-law, invited me out for Mother's Day lunch today. Dad was driving home from Amarillo at the end of an exhausting weekend business trip, and with perfect timing, we all converged on the restaurant to share soup, salad, pizza, and strawberry shortcake and, of course, a lot of memories.
Appropriately, I donned my mother-of-the-bride dress, the one she had made me especially for her wedding, but which I didn't get to wear. Instead, there was a frantic last-minute switch to a store-bought navy blue knit dress after the bridesmaids changed their minds about their dresses - we would've clashed. Anyway, I was happy to finally wear my special dress today on a special outing with my special seamstress.
A wise woman (my own mother) used to say that a mother of one knows all there is to know about children and child-rearing, and the mother with two is almost as certain, but the mother of three or more will say that no two are the same. (She also said that the only woman who knows better about raising children than the mother of one is an old maid. I do not know to whom she referred!) Today I indulged in one of my pleasures as the mother of four - I thrilled in the uniqueness of this child, how different she is from her sisters, and indeed how perfect and lovely yet completely unalike are the four of them. I am so blessed!
When this child was very small and was given her bath, she loved to climb out of the tub and race through the house wet and naked. This led to a game started by one of her older sisters when she reached with one hand to grasp the two little butt cheeks and say, "Tiny heinie! Tiny heinie!" The evening bath quickly became a fun time anticipated by all.
Another favorite memory is taking her grocery shopping. Dad pushed the cart, and she toddled along just in front of him, holding onto the cross bar of the rack beneath the basket. While they handled that end of the business, I carried my list and made our selections. Well, actually I grabbed the stuff off the shelves and threw it in the basket as I raced to keep a few steps ahead of my helpers. Sometimes I just wasn't fast enough, and they would have to circle around through the next aisle and come back to me. She marched and pushed - she never stopped!
With one exception: there was a part of the store we tried to avoid, the one with the tall cage full of play balls. There she would abandon her cart-pushing responsibilities to pull out one ball after another from the bottom and gleefully throw them! We would have balls bouncing and rolling all over the store until we finally got them gathered up and tossed back into the bin. These were the days we bought a new ball, so she would stop grabbing and throwing in order to choose one.
One day she and Dad were hurrying past the canned fruits and vegetables, when they came to a necessary halt to avoid hitting another shopper. A woman of ample proportions was standing in their way as she considered the fruit. She leaned over to reach a can of peaches, read the label, then replaced it and picked up another one, remaining bent over in kind of a half squat while she pondered. My child gazed intently at the woman and then walked up behind her, spreading her arms wide and declaring loud and clear, "BIG tah-heinie!"
It was just one of many magical moments. I've had a wonderful Mother's Day.
Appropriately, I donned my mother-of-the-bride dress, the one she had made me especially for her wedding, but which I didn't get to wear. Instead, there was a frantic last-minute switch to a store-bought navy blue knit dress after the bridesmaids changed their minds about their dresses - we would've clashed. Anyway, I was happy to finally wear my special dress today on a special outing with my special seamstress.
A wise woman (my own mother) used to say that a mother of one knows all there is to know about children and child-rearing, and the mother with two is almost as certain, but the mother of three or more will say that no two are the same. (She also said that the only woman who knows better about raising children than the mother of one is an old maid. I do not know to whom she referred!) Today I indulged in one of my pleasures as the mother of four - I thrilled in the uniqueness of this child, how different she is from her sisters, and indeed how perfect and lovely yet completely unalike are the four of them. I am so blessed!
When this child was very small and was given her bath, she loved to climb out of the tub and race through the house wet and naked. This led to a game started by one of her older sisters when she reached with one hand to grasp the two little butt cheeks and say, "Tiny heinie! Tiny heinie!" The evening bath quickly became a fun time anticipated by all.
Another favorite memory is taking her grocery shopping. Dad pushed the cart, and she toddled along just in front of him, holding onto the cross bar of the rack beneath the basket. While they handled that end of the business, I carried my list and made our selections. Well, actually I grabbed the stuff off the shelves and threw it in the basket as I raced to keep a few steps ahead of my helpers. Sometimes I just wasn't fast enough, and they would have to circle around through the next aisle and come back to me. She marched and pushed - she never stopped!
With one exception: there was a part of the store we tried to avoid, the one with the tall cage full of play balls. There she would abandon her cart-pushing responsibilities to pull out one ball after another from the bottom and gleefully throw them! We would have balls bouncing and rolling all over the store until we finally got them gathered up and tossed back into the bin. These were the days we bought a new ball, so she would stop grabbing and throwing in order to choose one.
One day she and Dad were hurrying past the canned fruits and vegetables, when they came to a necessary halt to avoid hitting another shopper. A woman of ample proportions was standing in their way as she considered the fruit. She leaned over to reach a can of peaches, read the label, then replaced it and picked up another one, remaining bent over in kind of a half squat while she pondered. My child gazed intently at the woman and then walked up behind her, spreading her arms wide and declaring loud and clear, "BIG tah-heinie!"
It was just one of many magical moments. I've had a wonderful Mother's Day.
This made me laugh out loud! Such sweet memories! I'm glad you had such a great Mother's Day!
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