Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Crochet Runner


War was raging back home and communication with my family was difficult and sporadic.  I missed my mother terribly even though I was happy here.  In one of my letters, I asked her to make me one of her beautiful crochet pieces.  I wanted to put it on my foyer table to remind me of her and make my apartment feel more like home.  I measured the table and told her to make it 8x12.

A few months later, a package arrived from home with my runner in it.  I stood there looking at it, confused why mom would send me this. What was it?  Then I saw the note ~ " It boggled my mind why you would ask for something like this.  What could you possibly use it for?  Your father, sisters and I cannot think of anything.  But here it is, hokiss, I tried my best to fit as much of the design in as I could. I hope you like it and you use it in health."

I laughed. It sits pretty in a small rectangular plate on my dressing table now and makes me smile each time I look at it.  I had forgotten that measurements were in centimeters back home, not inches.  So instead of a 8x12 inch runner, I had gotten a 8x12 cm one. 

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Birthday Lunch



The 6 friends sat around a table in a quiet corner of the restaurant.  They talked about the usual stuff; what they’d done this month, their husbands, the children and their new/old girl friends or boy friends, how late the service was and how delicious lunch was when they finally got it.  They laughed a lot and gave each other advice on everything from getting rid of japanese beetles to vacation spots.
Marilyn opened her cards and they passed them around, proud of having found the funniest one or the most fitting one.  They divided the bill by 5 and paid wishing their friend a happy birthday again.  Once everyone had used the restroom and they were all sitting around the table again, Marilyn spoke with no pause between the sentences.   “I have something to tell you but please nobody freak out I have breast cancer and the surgery is tomorrow”
For a second or two nobody spoke, then they all started together.  What, where, how, who, how long, how far, how much, shall we come, what next.  Then when they got their answers, We’ll be here, what can we do, we’ll be praying, we’ll support, we’ll make you laugh, take DC cd with you (guess who said that), we love you.  Then they all laughed about the new boobs Marilyn would be sporting at their next luncheon.  
In the parking lot, they hugged some more, talked some more, and then each one got into her car and shed a tear.. or two.
Marilyn’s surgery is tomorrow morning at 9 am.  I’ll be saying a prayer.  How about you?