a tiny gift

I don't know if she suddenly released her grasp from the tangled carpet fringe while I was vacuuming, or if it had just taken years for her to make her way down through the inner workings of the la-z-boy chair... but regardless of the how, there she tumbled... at my feet. To another, she might appear to be just a bit of plastic, her expression worn off with time, but to me, a mother... this little Polly is so much more. She is a glimpse back... to laughter and little clam shell cases. She brings me back... to stretched out days of playing, with the sun streaming through the windows. She reminds me... of that little blond wisp of a girl with a smile as bright as the sun. She is... a gift to this heart... a tiny piece of yesterday I thought was long forgotten.

Unwrapping this tiny Tuesday... at Chatting at the Sky.

ordinary starts with o

Sea shells, broken or whole... a stray feather that has fluttered its way into the wet sand... tiny pebbles that poke at the undersides of your feet as you are exploring. Ordinary beach finds, or extraordinary treasure? It depends how you look at them...

It's the simple joys, the simple pleasures the heart remembers and dearly treasures. -Hadin Marshall

Working our way from Z to A with Jen @ Unglazed... Happy Monday!

rewinding the week, part 2

another real-life Africa picture taken by my Mom...

This African safari skidded from a gentle might be to a hearty maybe... and then it was booked. Somewhere between maybe and that elated We're going to Africa phone call, I stared to really feel the excitement and the tears often rested on the edge of a dream coming true.
It wasn't really my dream... not from the start. My own dreams have never stretched beyond the borders of my own country, except maybe to skip over to Hawaii or up to Alaska. I have been so content to live through the pages of my Mom's scrapbooks and hear her stories. And I have been comfortable seeing the world on my TV screen... and occasionally being able to shout Mom & Bob did that! when teams were racing through Australia or Europe. I have loved every minute of my parent's travels... their memories, the trinkets that adorn their house and ours, and especially that they have had the opportunity at all. In fact, that is where those tears slipped out over the edge and fell onto my heart. In one excited phone call, talking about passports, my Mom told me that she has to renew hers... and in the next wonder-filled breath said I never even thought I'd ever have a passport at all... and now I am renewing it!
To think about it makes me tear up all over again. How much I love this woman... and want the world for her. She teaches me to dream beyond my little corner of the world... and when I'm uncertain, she shares her dream with me, and little by little it is becoming mine...

rewinding the week, part 1

photo courtesy of my mom... yep... she took this in real life.

The conversation began after seeing my Mom's newly decorated guest room and bathroom... appropriately called the Africa Room. We were the last ones to see it, due to my ER visit a few weeks ago, and although she was thrilled that she was finally going to share it with me, I was the last person... and there would be no one else new to ooo and ahhh over it. Really... it is beautiful. Breathtaking. Earthy paint, dark floors, and poster-sized photographs that started as vacation photos, and so many little touches that are just... my Mom. After lunch, sitting and talking... enjoying time, she turned to me and asked When the time comes that we could book a trip to Africa, would you be able to take the time off from work.... schedule it around summer activities? I didn't think too much of it... because we were barely to the half-way point in the five year plan, and to me, Africa was a someday kind of thing. Quietly, she whispered that she was hoping to go in the summer. My smile was wide... and my heart skipped a beat... maybe two. Wow.

Traveling home that evening, I felt overcome by a sense of disappointment. Africa? Already? But then what will I look forward to?
I had placed the adventure so far out of my reach that the possibility was too much, too soon, I guess. I should have just been thrilled. I was ashamed at my feelings... and I shoved the thoughts aside with a fair amount of guilt. Heading towards home, still mulling it all over, I realized how quickly time flies. And how many summers remained between now and college. And a smile rushed across my face once again. Next summer would be really wonderful.