My Plate is Full

I’m slacking. In the blogging department, that is.

You may have noticed that my posting has been less frequent lately. I’ve been desperately trying to get my life organized! Literally. I’m tackling years of neglect, closet by closet – room by room.

And next on my plate – an online writing class.

Yes, I finally took the plunge and went ahead with something I’ve been thinking about for the past year. I begin my class on May 21st. Just when my life is always the busiest.

With my job. And my rental properties (my other job).

Only I would have such perfect timing. And yes, I’m being sarcastic!

That’s why I introduced you to Email Notification by Feedburner a few weeks ago. In preparation for what lies ahead.

So you won’t have to wonder if I’ve written anything new. So you won’t get sick of checking my blog for new stuff. So you won’t give up on me!

I don’t want to lose my loyal readers!

So please, sign up to receive email notifications from me.

The Dishes Will Wait has to wait.

While my plate is full, at least.

M-O-M

Yesterday at a trip to the garden center, I spied something that immediately brought me back about ten years, when Mickey was just four years old.

Mickey and I were shopping. Just like always, I got to push the cart and she got to add things to it. In the same way, she usually got to take the things home and I got to pay for them. (Unless the things I bought were groceries, then I also got to cook with them, do the dishes, plus clean up the kitchen after them.)

Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Back to ten years ago, when we were shopping. This time it was for flowers for our garden. We chose yellow marigolds and put them in our cart. (They don’t smell so pretty, but they are very hardy and look pretty from a distance.) We added pink and purple petunias, which of course were Mickey’s favorite colors. Finally, I spotted a beautiful red geranium – my favorite.

Our cart was full.

At this point, I had to take over steering the cart through the maze of aisles, past the sprinklers and over the garden hoses. Nearing the checkout, Mickey stopped, grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “Oh, Mom, look at this!” she exclaimed. “I want to get you these for Mother’s Day!” (I forgot to mention that at this point in the school year, her four-year-old reading vocabulary included recognizing the important words - Mom and Dad.)

Mickey saw a beautiful flower arrangement, with purple, pink and white carnations arranged in perfect formation, spelling out her favorite word, M-O-M.

I gasped.

What she didn’t know was that it was a memorial arrangement, one made to put in the ground in front of a headstone.

In a cemetery.

I smiled at Mickey, trying not to laugh. “They really are beautiful,” I told her. Hugging her, I added, “you can get me one like that when I’m older … (hopefully a lot older, I thought).”

So Mickey went home with her M-O-M and we planted our flowers. Yellow marigolds, pink and purple petunias, and one red geranium. And they were beautiful.