this weekend
i was a little dazed,
perhaps even disoriented.
for i had a cunning plan all worked out
but it would appear,
i misjudged my clan
and therefore
i am most delighted to report,
i did not require a cunning plan...
my disorientated day began with a cup of tea in bed,
something i have not enjoyed since my birthday.
i was told not to set the alarm by our #3
he would get up and sort little olive.
i pottered downstairs way after 9am
to a little pile of goodies
all wrapped in homemade paper...
i was not required in the kitchen,
i was asked on numerous occasions
if they could fetch me anything,
or
did i want a cup of tea.
i was given plenty of crafting time,
giving me a chance to
'dottie angel'
who came my way.
in the afternoon
we took a trip across the bridge
into the big city,
the sun beaming down on us.
we sat in pioneer square
with our drinks 'al fresco'
me, my man and my four children,
a rare sight indeed.
i looked at each of them in turn,
wondering what paths they will take in life
hoping they will be okay
at the end of my mother's day
i sat quietly reading what our #1 had placed on my facebook wall.
i'm 'crappity crap' at facebook.
but she doesn't let that bother her...
she wrote
"this will be our last mothers day together for at least a few years, so i would like you to know i love you a lot.
you're so charming and odd, but completely influential on me in the best way mothers can be.
eighteen years of mother days. can you believe it?"
and the thing is i can't,
i can't believe yesterday was the last mothers day i will have with all of my children living under the same roof.
so here i go again dearest readers...
feeling melancholy,
counting the days
and
as i watch my children,
messing around,
winding each other up,
and driving me up the wall at times,
there is one thing i know to be true
without a doubt,
i have truly been blessed in my life
she is beavering with Miss Ethel, for a shop update is in the makings ~ Tif
44 comments:
You made four people. Then they made you breakfast. How marvellous.
Suddenly I could not spell poeple. I hate it when that happens.
Oh you take me back to a happy place I was born and raised in Redmond and Kirkland,Wa. and once a month as kids we would go downtown Seattle to the Grand Central Bakery in Pioneer square for a pastry and a hot dog their whole wheat buns are out of this world, not to mention the local flavor.
What a nice day!
Tif, you have devastated me, for I too am driving my #1 to college in August. I was feeling blue about this last night, but didn't even consider that yesterday was the last Mother's Day I'd have with all my tykes at home. I have four and they just keep growing and getting older and older. Naughty monkeys.
Crikey O Riley, I think you might have just made me want to have my third child before it is too late! I shall have to think some more on this matter. Quickly.
Aaww, what a lovely post...and what great kids. Fab picture, love the cheeky tongue! Kathy (from over the pond in UK, still loving that fab dottie angel slip!)
What a wonderful, special Mothers Day and fantastic facebook message.
You are indeed truly blessed but they are lucky children having such a special Mum.
As they set off on their journeys through life a big part of their hearts will remain in the shed with their much loved Mum.
I hope life continues to bring you all great happiness and, of course, a daily dose of dottiness.
Carol xx
wow-what a gorgeous family you have, and what splendiferous words your daughter came up with to go on your wall. One to remember!
Your family is lovely. How sweet of them to take care of you on your special day!
What a lovely day you were given, but your wonderful family! My boys always seem to forget Mothers Day!
The time just flies by. My girls are grown. But when they fly the coop, they spread their wings and you are so proud of them. Despite the fact that they may never live again in the same nest.
Brenda
why did i find this so sweet and touching that my eyes filled with tears? ah, i know. because my #1 child is also posed to leave the nest, changing everything... thank you for capturing the melancholy, the happy-sad, in your own perfect style.
Beautiful. I love the way you painted the picture of your day and your family. Our paths seem quite similar, both lovely and bittersweet.
Happy Day After Mother's Day, Tif!
Just wanted to share a cuckoo clock story....I was strolling through an antique shop recently during a visit with my mother-in-law and admired, out loud, an old cuckoo clock (secretly thinking how wonderful it would look spray-painted a solid color...perhaps pink!) Two weeks later (the day before Mother's Day) what should be delivered at my door by the UPS man but a box with an old German cuckoo clock. It is the one my husband's family brought back to the US after their 3-year stay in Germany. Now I don't dare paint it, because it is a 'family heirloom' and signed by the cuckoo artist, but I sure would like to give it some flare....
I just stumbled upon your blog via Alicia at Posie. Such a delightful world you have created for yourself and your clan. I loved your ode to your recent Mothers' day experience. Yesterday was my very first Mothers' Day. Your post is lovely.
Tif...
a wonderful day full of family and handmade goodness...
Hoping your week is just as lovely...
I've been there myself - but sometimes they come back! I have four kids - three grown. They left the nest at 17 or 18 but two of them have come back for a short stay! Sometimes we get a surprise or two along the way! I know you have given yours what they need to succeed on their own but I, like you, enjoy having them around! Jamie V in MT
http://rem-nants.blogspot.com
amzanioli@yahoo.com
time passes too fast, we seem to get to this place and not sure how it happens so fast. enjoy your family one day at a time and savor the memories
That is such a lovely post. I'm very glad you had such a lovely day with your children & what a lovely thing for your eldest to write. My boys are only young, but I imagine it will be difficult when they are old enough to flee the nest. Though watching them them grow into wonderfully independant & hopefully well adjusted, caring & loving men will make all these daily challenges all the more worthwhile...happy mother's day!
You had a wonderful day (and a wonderful daughter)! And you put it in wonderful words! Very charming. Thank you.
PS: I have found your blog just recently and I like it very much.
ahh I've read several blogs today about little birdies leaving the nest. It is a bittersweet time.
beautiful children! I know how you feel about it being the last mothers day all together! My oldest daughter is married and lives a 9 hour drive away with her husband and the sweetest grandson you will ever meet! But I talk to her almost every day and we are truly the best of friends! Every time we are together it is party time!
What a wonderful day. I was treated to a rather lovely day myself. My daughter will be 17 soon and I know how bittersweet those precious moments are.
Ruth
Don't get too disheartened. I sent both of my children to university and they both came back! Son didnt leave til he was 37!! and daughter returned after 5 years and is still here, (now 38). You may get more mothers days together than you imagine.
Hello from Farm and Fru Fru...I just found your blog...I am charmed, enchanted and in love...I thought I should tell you I will be visiting regularly...I need girly stuff in my life of boys...thanks for providing some...LOVE LOVE LOVE your style and can't wait to have time to amble through your entire blog and site! please visit me at farmandfrufru.blogspot.com
That is so lovely Tif. Really, what more could you ask for when your children say that you have been so influential in the best way a mother could be. Well done. It takes a lot of work and love to raise children into great people. Thanks for sharing their faces with us...it looks like they each share a bit of your personality.
thank you all, your words made me smile, laugh and nod the knowing 'nod' :)
mmmm - they do come back. . . my #1 spent the whole week. #2 is leaving in two weeks. A summer job then school. It is bitter sweet. But it is Mother's Day even if they are not here with me - after all - they are the reason I'm celebrating!
Here I was looking for a light litte dottie read and what I got was a tear in my eye. My boy is soon to be 18 and graduating so, I feel you sadness and uncertainty. He bought me roses on his own yesterday. Drove there and paid with his own money. The sweetest thing ever... They do grow up and it sounds like you have a keeper too. What a blessing that is!
aw, how sweet of your kiddies!! i'm glad to hear you were given the royal treatment on mother's day. i enjoyed reading your daughter's facebook post.. it was very thoughtful.
oh tif. i am completely exhausted, awake again at 5 and up in the night, i have sworn NEVER to have another. but you make me wish i could. x
on another note. please don't gloss your children brilliant white. they have escaped doilification all these years, now i worry for them once more. x
oh you are so funny fran!
i'm not allowed anywhere near their rooms with my glossy white paint brush... it was banned way back along with the doilies :)
Dear Dottie- I just wanted to say that I so wish I could commit to your challenge but I fear that my addiction to Etsy would get the better of me. I am a weak woman and although my heart is in the right place, I must be realistic and not set myself up for failure.
But I will watch you as you go through your journey and I will marvel at it just as I marvel at everything else you do.
Much love from the So. California coast.
A
Ah, *hug* from the land of Old Blighty. BTW, I've started saying 'crappity crap', to my mans bemusement.
Dear Tif,
I tried to leave a comment yesterday but I couldn't do it with such a big lump in my throat!
Know how you are feeling as I'm going though the same thing.My daughter is older, she's 20 in 2 weeks! She is at Uni in Brighton and has been for nearly 2 years.We are swapping bedrooms at home so our 15 yr old lad can have the bigger room. But it's the realization that she'll never properly live at home again!Of course she's really happy and settled, it's me who has a wobble every now and again!
That's why I need to get me a little dog!
Rachel x
Oh that's all so sweet Tif! Perfect contentment! Jane x
Happy belated Mothers Day! I have just one child, 18 finishing her last game of HS softball this week...after 4 solid years and many years prior to that. It is the "end" of her softball career. And, I just want to weep!!!!! It represents yet another turn of the wheel of life!
Happy Belated Mother's Day. I only have one daughter who is still quite young but I feel like locking her in a little bottle so she can never leave home! I remember crying in Goldie Hawn's autobiography when her daughter Kate left home and her pain afterwards. Children are such a blessing but also bittersweet when we have to let them go. Whether we are movie stars of at home mothers it is a universal pain. xx
There I was, having a crap day, moaning and wondering if my children would ever just go to sleep so I could lie down and put an end to the miserable lump that I was...and I read your lovely poignant post and remembered to remember that we only get to share them for such a short time and that I'd better get to having fun tomorrow...thank you!
oh fiona, i think we all have days like that... i for one do, quite often i have to say.
and when mine were little it would seem never ending at times, but now of course i am at the other end, trying to put the brakes on, even on the 'crappiest of crappy' days with my brood :)
thank you all for your lovely words of comfort and understanding...
oh and winnibriggs, you win a gold sticky star for being a mum of the utmost kind... blimey, you actually deserve more than one my dear :)
you will still have the other four children or are they already grown with children of their own running barefoot in the meadow...lovely:)
Holy moly! You're very close to me. I know that building well.
. . . "you're so charming and odd . . . " - love that!
Blessings,
G
Post a Comment