Even though this Sunday is Mothers Day, the thing I’m sharing today was actually a birthday gift from my kids. I had seen this cute, seemingly handmade vase at Goodwill and sent them a picture of it, shamelessly asking that they buy it for me. They were both away at college at the time so I was mostly joking, though I secretly hoped they might get in touch with my husband to pick it up. Somehow they did get hold of it and saved it for when we visited in the summer of 2020, when they were back in Pullman taking classes remotely. We all met outside at a park wearing our masks, chatting & playing on the deserted playground, my husband & I reminiscing about how much of campus looked the same and what had changed since 1991. Then we sprayed on hand sanitizer and the kids gave me gifts. One was the cat sculpture that looks startlingly like my Zelda and the other was the odd little thrift store vase.
Of course the real gift here is that my children are creative & caring listeners, paying attention when someone mentions a like or a wish and doing what they can to fulfill it for them. I could have (and might still, someday) chosen any of the cards they have made for me through the years, or drawings, or collections of feathers and shells and tiny rocks. I am continually moved and awed that they are so willing to show love in such thoughtful, giving ways - and that they often join forces to do it.
I like to read this vase’s inscription not so much in my kids’ voices, saying I the mom am the source of their happiness, but from my own point of view where I embody the essence of happiness because of them.
I am become happiness.
"…there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child."
~ Anne Lamott
Oh I love this, although I do feel sad for whoever made this for their own mother and then had it regifted to goodwill 😂