Sunday, May 11, 2014

The Easel - A Mother's Day Gift for Always


One of the Best Mother's Day Gifts

Over a decade ago my daughters gave to me one of the best Mother's Day gifts I've ever received and I still have it today.
It had been several months since I'd left my second husband and money was tight. Being a colder start to spring meant that my pool business, our livelihood was slow. The previous Autumn we had moved into an old farm house and on the grounds were an old barn as well as other remnants of buildings that had stood a century before.
My working hours were long and my girls knew that I didn't have the means to give them extra for Mother's Day gifts that year. I told them not to worry about it and just to make me a card or something similar. Oh did they surprise me!
I didn't know it at the time, but they had been exploring the property when I had been away at work. We had explored part of the barn together and realized that at one time that property had also sold flowers, plants and other things a typical farm and hot house might sell in days gone by. They in their explorations however had made further discoveries.
Mother's Day came after a long and grueling week of work. I was up about my normal time and had had coffee to hand. The last few days I hadn't been allowed in one of the bedrooms my girls occupied. I had decided to take the sofa bed when we moved in as they needed their privacy more than I did. They took advantage of that fact with my surprise.
They had me cover my face that day. Their surprise all ready. I couldn't figure out what they were up to as I knew that they hadn't had the necessary to buy anything and hadn't been anywhere but school and back. What I hadn't counted on was their resourcefulness, talents and ingenuity.
In the living room they had placed beautifully decorated an old easel they had found in the loft of that old barn. They had taken some of my sand paper and taken the little bits of rust off that old iron easel. They had made flowers decorated it each in their own wonderful ways. They made me cards with their clever hands with more love than my heart could hold. They told me how they had found it and it was a joint effort to bring that big heavy easel down that rickety loft ladder. They talked about being scared of bugs, critters and heights getting it down. But down they brought it and had cleaned and tidied it up, just for me. I began crying happy tears.
They knew how much I loved to draw and paint you see. One of the things I had wanted for many years was a real easel to be able to sit and paint outside or inside. They knew it had been one of my dreams and they brought it into being that day.
Over the years since that easel has had little use, but has been one of my most cherished possessions. When all the hoopla of the last couple of years came to a head this last Autumn and Spring, I decided that that was one of the few things I was going to take with me, one way or the other. I've made myself a promise you see. A promise to let the distractions of life that held me so tightly over the years float away and take more time to enrich my life. Using that easel more often will do just that.
I'm going to paint more and write more. I'm going to enjoy more and do more on a Soul level. I'm giving myself permission to read more and learn more. I'm giving myself permission to do the things I've always wanted to do but never taken the time to do. I'm giving myself permission to do the things that fill my soul more and enjoy my life as I work with The Creator more and more in understanding this.
Many thanks to my three beautiful daughters as that easel is going to be well used.... It's still one of the best Mother's Day Gifts Ever.....

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