Kudos to You

My mom is like most good mothers I know; she is highly interested in the health, well-being, and happiness of her children (whether or not they recognize it as such), but most of the time her efforts receive little praise or thanks.  My mom is also unlikely to toot her own horn.  So, it seems appropriate to toot a horn in her behalf.

My dad and sisters flew in for a quick weekend visit in late September, but my mom stayed for another full week after they left.  She read to Ezra, tickled Ezra, cuddled Ezra, listened to Ezra, and did a dozen other all-star Grandma things for my sweet (needy) boy.  She spent cuddly time with little Maren too.  She cooked dinners, washed dishes, mended clothes, did laundry, helped me run errands, worked in the yard, and watched kids so I could take naps.  We went on outings to the zoo and the children's museum together.  She baked us a homemade apple pie.  She gave me time to go to the temple.

And, she helped me with one of my many wouldn't-it-be-nice-if-I-had-the-time projects.  The kid bedrooms in our house face full west.  The light intensity in the late afternoon even with plantation shutters is intense.  I thought it might be nice to put up curtains, which would help with the heat in the summer and cold in the winter.

My mom happened to have two panels of nearly brand new curtains that my Grandma had made for her house shortly before she passed away.  She was an expert seamstress and the curtains are heavy duty and finely made.  My mom had them stored away for a future need.  She brought them along in her suitcase, just in case.

As luck would have it, the cream and sage green curtains matched very nicely with the existing pastel color scheme in Maren's room.  The other panel, which was also cream and sage green, was retrofitted by my mom with some lovely fine wale chocolate brown corduroy.  (I am in the process of making a new brown, green, and blue patchwork quilt for Ezra that will match the newly installed curtains.)  Not only did she give me the beautiful curtains, which saved me time and money, she retrofitted the curtain for Ezra's room, and then hung rods for them.

I probably could have made curtains, and I probably could have gotten them hung, but it would probably be another six months from now.  So, thanks Mom.  Thanks for the visit.  Thanks for the fun outings.  Thanks for the Grandma snuggles.  Thanks for the naps.  Thanks for the curtains.  Thanks for everything.