A Mother's Treasures...

I read somewhere that this week has been declared, “Son’s Week.” Well, that is nice to know. Everyone including sons should have a little bit of recognition, I suppose. After all, we have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, so why not Son’s Week! My fondest memories are of my two sons and their early childhood years. To this day, I have a book with gone-to-dust dandelions pressed between its pages. There is also a box of handmade Valentines and Mother’s Day cards tied together with faded strips of ribbon tucked away in a closet. Each card printed in a small child’s penmanship; and the artwork, such a treasure! Inside the larger box is a smaller box holding a shiny diamond (rock) given to mama, a now tarnished penny that was probably found on a playground, and a small plastic bird that was the prize inside a box of cracker jacks. Gifts to me from my children to put a smile on mama's face... Only a mother would keep these things. Only a mother would see them as valuable items, and only a mother would protect them as if they were the family jewels.

     I guess, I must have kissed a thousand boo-boos and wiped as many teardrops away. However, one of my favorite memories is baking cupcakes with two little boys. I still recall how they would fight over who was going to lick the icing bowl. That was a tough one to call. Who gets the icing bowl! No mother wants any of her children to think the other is a favorite, so how do you solve that problem…It took me a while to realize I needed to use two icing bowls and be sure I left the same amount of left over icing in both bowls. Believe me; they measured every spot on those bowls. Not one bowl could have one dollop more than the other one.

     Recently, I read a cute story about a mother making pancakes for her two little boys:

It seems that both boys wanted the first pancakes. So they argued over who was going to be first…”You know,” said mom. “If Jesus was eating breakfast with us, He would say, "You can have the first ones brother.” The two boys were silent for a while, then Johnny looked at his brother and said, "Tommy, you be Jesus.”
     Memories, such beautiful memories our children help us weave... I still remember the disappointment on my younger sons little face when the Pillsbury doughboy did not pop out of the first tube of biscuits he saw me open. He came running in and jumped up in a chair at the table and watched as I banged the biscuits on the table’s edge…There was a quizzical look on his small face and he was expecting me to  have the answer.

“Where is him” he questioned.

“Who, honey,” I asked as I lifted the biscuits out of the tube.

“Dat wittle him.” he answered. Suddenly, I realized he was talking about the Pillsbury advertisement he had seen on Television. (An ad that was popular during the sixties). It was the one where the woman opened the biscuits and the doughboy came popping out with a giggle.

Our children are our jewels, so yes, we should have every week set aside for our memory builders, our sons, and our daughters. Not just one week, but all the time. Our children are grown and gone from our care way too soon. However, the memories they give us are a "Mother's treasures" and she carries them throughout a lifetime.

Have a great day in the Lord,
Mary Frances King

What mother hath not saved some trifling thing?

More prized than jewels rare___

A faded rose, a broken ring, or a tress of golden hair.

Anonymous ~