Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A Big Deal


I know the above picture doesn't look like a very big thing, but the story behind it is.

When I visit my parents, my dad will often ask me to mend something for him. Since my mom was disabled due to a serious stroke, she is not able to do those things for him any more and even though I give my dad some grief about it, I am happy help him out. When I was at their house a few months ago, Dad asked me to mend a seam in some dress pants of his. Next to my mom's sewing machine was an old fabric tape measure. I looked closely at it and saw a name was written on the back side of it.



Can you see what it says? It has the name Charlotte Swanson written on it. She was my great aunt, my mom's father's sister. Aunt Charlotte made the best Spritz cookies.

I brought the tape measure back upstairs with me and told my dad that the tape measure was something I would like to have. My mom took the tape measure from me and looked at it and made kind of a disapproving sound (the stroke took away her speech). She then set it on a table next to her. I took that as her telling me that she was not willing to let me take it.

A little while later, Hubby and I said our good-byes and made our way to the front door. Dad pushed Mom in her wheel chair to front door to wave to us as we drove away, like they always do. I turned around to give my mom one more kiss and she was holding out her hand to me with the tape measure in her hand and a sweet smile on her face!

I know to the casual reader this may not seem like a big deal, but if you knew how sentimental my mom is, you would understand.

I will always treasure that strip of fabric with measurements printed on it and my great aunt's name written on it because it was a big deal for my mom to give it to me.

2 comments:

  1. Sometimes the littlest things are really the biggest deals of all. What a sweet story.

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  2. Cherish every gesture, smile, and indication your mom gives you. Be thankful that she really can communicate - just not in words. Thanks for sharing this story.

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