Mom's Greatest Gift

When I was a very little girl, my mother was given the most wonderful gift I had ever seen:

A painted china bowl and lid, in which the bowl was a nest and the lid was a hen. The thing that made it wonderful was that when you lifted the hen lid off, two eggs were nestled inside…a salt and pepper shaker.

It was the greatest gift ever. What could be more wonderous.

I was fascinated. It was SO beautiful. The most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Mom would let me touch it and study it when she was watching, and I loved it as much as she did. Possibly more.

One afternoon, her friends came over, and we had a cook-out in the yard. Eileen, who used to live in our downstairs apartment, had not been over for a visit in a while, and I was anxious to show off my mother’s new treasure.

My mother said I could fetch it from the china closet and bring it out to show her friend.

“Be Careful, Geraldine.”

I was careful.
I opened the door of the China closet. I used both hands.

I walked to the back door, cradling it with both hands.

I was careful.

I went down the 3 back steps from the porch.

So careful.

And then, just a couple of feet from Eileen, I stumbled, going down on both knees and elbows.

And time seemed almost to stop as the covered bowl shattered into thousands of sharp shards against the concrete ground.

My little heart was broken- my mother’s beautiful gift and I smashed it

But my mother didn’t see the broken treasure. The covered bowl was just a thing.

She only saw her baby with bleeding knees and elbows that she cleaned and kissed better.

Because she loved me.

My mother taught me that day. One of her many lessons of loving with a whole heart.

Happy Birthday, Mom. We still miss you!