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Monday, May 11, 2009

Slip Up

May 11, 2009

Thank you for sharing a laugh with me about the Mother of the Year award, and for the other gentle messages I received from you this weekend. I appreciated all of them, though I would have traded any one of them for a warning that the postal rates went up today, leaving me needing to buy a boatload of two cent stamps to pair up with my lovely 42 cent stamps of Wyoming (truly one of Erin's favorite places in the world, once she got over sharing that love with Wyoming's best known resident, former VP Cheney). Yes, before you say it, I did invest in a whole lot of "forever" stamps (they have liberty bells on them), but on the advice of Elaine, who really chewed me out for even considering to use my usual flag stamps, I bought a quantity of "meaningful" and "beautiful" stamps that I thought I could use up before the deadline. Oops. Letter writing never goes as fast as you think it will, nor do you ever start as quickly as you plan (I think these are both corollaries to the Law of Term Papers).

So, my mom and I did some meaningful things together yesterday. We went to church and lunch together (Gina's had a complimentary chocolate fountain and dippable strawberries for those of you who don't care for your chocolate straight up in a shot glass or tumbler.). We picked up three wheel barrows full of sticks and branches in the back yard that had blown down in recent storms to make way for the lawn mower. We also proved ourselves a few trumps short of a winning hand.

My mom, Super LTA (library technical assistant?), reads more than anyone I know. Every once in a while (usually on a weekend), she finds herself bereft of reading material and comes to my house to scrounge around for a book she hasn't read. Over lunch we had discussed a book that we had both thought she had already read, but as luck would have it she had skipped over it and read the next one in the series. I had bought it and read it and thought she would like it, so I told her to stop over later and get it.

So, it was no surprise when she came over later and asked for it. In fact, she said, "Just tell me where it is, and I won't interrupt what you are involved in."

Had I known, I would have told her, but I didn't . Since we have book shelves and nooks tucked all over the house, I just told her I would go and grab it for her. I went to the most logical place, then the next most logical place, then the third most logical place. No luck. I probed from room to room, ending up checking shelves in Erin and Davis's rooms. No luck. Eventually, I went back to the most logical place, and it had not magically appeared. I'm thinking, OMG, I'm actually going to have to clean my house from top to bottom because I have set a book down that I just finished reading about ten days ago, and it has sunken into the morass my house has become and completely disappeared. My mom was patient with me, and before leaving, asked casually if I might have lent it to someone. I told her I didn't think so, but maybe I had and had completely forgotten.

She went back home, and I returned to my desk.

About twenty minutes later the phone rang. My mom told me I had lent the book to someone. . .her.

She told me I could write about how both of us were slipping in our golden years, but only if I put a very flattering photo of her up with the story.



7 comments:

  1. I'm glad to know that I am not the only one who slips up occasionally. I actually looked for a missing contact lens not too long ago, only to realize I was still wearing it!

    In this picture, Erin looks about the age she was when I first met her when she and Tiffany began 4-year-old preschool together. That takes me way back...such a precious time they had together at Covenant Pres. Thank you for sharing.

    Tiff and I said a special prayer for you yesterday on Mother's Day.

    Gentle hugs,

    Kimberly Reeves

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  2. I went to the post office Thursday to mail my mom homemade cookies for mother's day and discovered they had removed the stamp machines from the lobby. So, no stamps for me either. I have a few forever stamps left from last year's stash and some OLD flag ones that have no postage amount shown, so who knows what they're worth. Today I misplaced no less than 3 things in an 8x8 office. I have yet to find the graduation card I bought for Spencer last year, so don't feel bad!

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  3. Did you really just use 'OMG' in a sentence? OMG!!!

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  4. AWWW! The great pictures from Grandparent's Day at Mary Branch!
    My parents still have all of theirs from the days they came to eat with the boys!!!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Love and hugs,
    Beverly

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  5. Vickie: I never met Erin (I live in Washington and have never set foot in Texas) - but I miss her so much. I loved your (and your mom's) story about the book. I just rebought a book from Amazon and I KNOW I have a hardbound copy somewhere -- I can visualize the book, and where it is on the shelf -- but I can't find the right shelf! At any rate, happy Mothers Day to one of the best moms. Erin was so lucky to get you!

    Jan M

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  6. I love that story. Apparently I am slipping into my golden years as well. For mother's day I gave my mom a manicure and pedicure using a natural looking color. At the end I picked up her left hand to paint and said "wow your nails are naturally so shiny you don't even need nail polish" and she looked at me and said with a straight face "Thats because you did that hand already." 3 minutes later and I had no memory of it.
    Kim Kow-

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  7. Oh, Vickie, I LOVE this story! And you know why? because I AM NOT ALONE! God bless you and your sweet mom. Praying for you.
    jenny

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