Day 272: A Smatterday thing I would call my mother to say if I could . . .
In typical Smatterday fashion, we have been working hard all day on the house and yard like people who don’t do housework during the week. That’s because we don’t do housework during the week.
As I vacuumed around this innocuous-looking piece of furniture my mother called a “plant stand” I had a childhood flashback. My parents taught us to work hard. Running a farm and a household required the efforts of everyone in the family. I remember vacuuming one Saturday when I was 8 or 9, around this same plant stand, only then it was placed in the corner of the living room and held not a plant, but my mother’s porcelain statue called “A Woman in Study.” I bumped the stand and the statue toppled to the floor, shattering into tiny unglue-able pieces. I knew she was upset. She loved that statue. I felt awful. I started to cry, and she asked me if I had gotten cut. When I answered no, she said “Hey, it’s only a thing. Things break. We have to be careful not to break people. If you’re not broken, then all is well. Let’s clean this up together.”
This is what I would say to Mom: “Hey Mom, I was vacuuming today and almost toppled the plant stand. Remember when I broke your statue? Thank you for teaching me how to clean a house. Thank you for teaching me to be patient when my kids were little and broke things. And thanks for showing me how NOT to break a person.”
Since I couldn’t actually call and tell her that, I just kept vacuuming while I shed a few tears - not “broken” tears - “I miss my Mom” tears. #momscompanytowels #hownottobreakaperson
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