Super Mom Mary

 Many years ago I completed this needlework and had it framed. I hope my children have some memories of me playing with them. I know for sure that Jackson will have many such memories!

One of the delights of being in Mary's home is listening to the giggles and laughter as she plays with our adorable little grandson.  That boy has an active imagination. He and Mary have adventure after adventure with his cars, trucks and figures.  Paw Patrol makes daring rescues.  Construction vehicles build roads. There are 'masking tape roads' on the floor in every room of the house.

I gave him a doctor's kit and that provided hours and hours of fun!

Mostly we were a vet hospital.

Notice the bandaids on each patient!

Occasionally a human patient with a high fever would slip in.

Jackson's imagination goes a mile a minute and he has definite ideas about how things should happen.  One might say he is a bit bossy!

But he's so adorable, no one cares...at least Mom and Grandma don't.

Mary is infinitely patient with him.  He is quite cautious in new situations, like soccer.  Mary lets him do what he is comfortable doing, with no pushing to do more.  I wasn't like that. She's there when he needs and wants her.  I can see that this approach gives him a solid foundation which gives him confidence while lessening his insecurity.  Her patient love will pay off.

He was also hesitant about being left at preschool.  Mary stayed with him in class on many days until he got comfortable and then gradually developed a ritual so that she can now leave him smiling at the door.

When he wanted to 'help' pour sugar from the big container into smaller ones. she let him.  I know most moms would have balked at the mess (and yes there was a mess, especially when he decided to experiment with adding water to the sugar) but Mary encouraged his interest and them calmly cleaned it up.

She researched on-line to find a children's museum close by and then let him run from activity to activity, knowing they would come back another day for more in depth play.  Today was all about exploring at Jackson's pace.

Feeding dinosarus!

Turning gears!

Watching scarves float!

He loved it all!

When we took a day trip to Berkley Springs, Mary found a 'cat rescue' center.  For a small donation you can go into a Victorian home where 40 cats have free rein.

You can play with them. Jackson had fun dragging the toy and making this kitten run after it.

You can pet them and even adopt one!  Although then we might have had to find a new home for Mark who is not a cat lover!

Mary is never too busy to go to the park.

Or too distracted to play and play!

I am in awe of the kind of mother my daughter is to our little grandson.

Jackson is blessed to call her mommy!

Little Things that Mean a Lot

 When my mother died and I was faced with the task of cleaning out her house, I was very grateful that during each visit with her during the last 10 years of her life, she had insisted that we clean out her closets, storage house and attic.  Her feeling was that if I didn't want something that she had, then she should get rid of it.  Of course I did want a lot!  My mother had saved many things from my childhood and those are treasures to me.  Now that I am getting older, I'm also sorting and deciding what is worth keeping.   It isn't easy for me to let things that my mother saved for 60+ years go.  Maybe taking photos of some of them and sharing their meaning will make it easier for me.

Here are 3 souvenirs that I bought during the period of time we lived in Sicily - 1960 - 1963.

The blue vase is from Syracuse,  Italy.  I have no idea why this particular place made such an impression on me.  I was just 6 years old but when we went back to Sicily in 1999 with the boys, I remembered it very well.  Don't you love that in the 60's when you were a tourist in Italy, women wore dresses?

The 'leaning tower of Pisa' was a weather forecaster.  It had some sort of sparkling glitter on the sides which changed color depending on the weather.  Of course the glitter is long gone.  I bought this in Pisa when we made a trip up through Italy to Germany.  

Can you believe there is not one photo of me in Pisa?  My mother didn't take a lot of photos and Daddy was using his movie camera that day.  

I am glad that my Grandma Boyle also was a saver and kept this postcard that my mother sent her.

I especially love the seven cent airmail stamp!  And I guess I did 'take it all in' since I remember the day in Pisa. 

One of my clearest memories is that there were a lot of children receiving their first communion and the little girls wore white dresses that looked like wedding dresses.  Oh, how I wanted one of those dresses since I loved playing 'bride'.  

I found this photo on-line from that time period.  Can't you see why a little girl would really want one?

I never got one.  My parents probably thought it was a bit sacrilegious and I also imagine that they were expensive.

Here is what my mother wrote about that day in Pisa in her trip journal.

I guess the line of girls in white dresses didn't make the same impression on her that it did on me.

I don't really know for sure where I got the small pink vase.  My mother gave me a large round cake plate that is the same color.  I am confident that it came from Catania, Sicily which is the large city close to the base.  When I google 'pink Sicilian Glass' I find that  Williams Sonoma has pink "Sicilian' tableware.  No one around that knows for sure anymore!

All of my treasures aren't from my childhood!

This one was a gift from George when we were dating.

He was a Sunday school teacher in our student congregation.  In one of his lessons he was teaching on the importance of spreading joy by doing little things.  Since it happened to be my birthday, he gave me this small trinket.  Quite the object lesson and I have kept it all these years.  It has been stored in a box but I just put it on display to remind me of the JOYS I've experienced since that Sunday in 1974. My kids may throw it away but I will keep it always to remind me of that skinny young guy that I fell in love with.

Don't we look young?  I was 21 and George was 23.  We WERE young!

The last 'treasure' is one from our time living in Barcelona.  

For most of the 5 years we were there, I led the music in our church's children's organization.  Among the many adorable children were 6 girls from one family.  I loved them and they loved me.  The youngest would often come and sit on my lap during meetings.  George and I have been lucky to attend several of their weddings in Salt Lake and get reacquainted with these girls, now strong women!

Unfortunately I only have a photo of mom and 3 of the girls.

One Sunday they very excitedly gave me these little swans.

Tucked inside were several notes they had written me.

After mentioning that they loved me, they practiced all the English words that they had been learning at school, and wrote a scripture from Genesis.  For more than 22 years I have kept this memento of these little girls and one of the sweetest times in my life when I learned that love knows no boundaries, not language, culture, or age.

In the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up when discussing how to sort 'sentimental items', Marie Kondo writes this, "It is not our memories but the person we have become because of these past experiences that we should treasure.  This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us."

So what have the experiences associated with these keepsakes taught me:

1.  Travel changes you when you 'take it all in'.

2.  Find and give joy with simple things.

3.  Love cuts across language barriers, cultural differences and disparate ages.