A little girl, when asked where her home was, replied, "wherever mother is!" ~Keith L. Brooks
When I was a little girl, I made it a point to remember birthdays, holidays and special occasions for my loved ones, with a carefully thought-out and selected gift. I don’t know why, at such an early age, it seemed like something important that I, personally, had to do, but it did. It has carried over to my adulthood. But, I digress... ;-)
I must have been about six at the time, when this specific memory occurred. Now, before I tell you the jist of this story, let me say that, as a youngster, I received a weekly allowance of .50 cents. [It later, after much negotiating with my father, became a dollar. Actually, I think my brother did the negotiating, while Pam and I stood beside him in unified support.] Did I already say, "But, I digress?"...LOL
I’m sure that doesn’t sound like a lot of money to anyone these days, but I can assure you, back in my day, it was. Fifty cents kept me in candy and Icees for a month from our 7-11, and that’s taking out the nickel that we were taught to tithe each week to church. The other money accumulated in my piggy bank for a special toy or, in my case, a special-occasion gift for someone I loved.
I remember asking my best friend’s, [Terri] mother if she would drive me over to the Woolworth’s, because I had an important gift I needed to purchase. I couldn’t ask my mother to take me, because the gift was, after all, for her, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Mother’s Day was the upcoming Sunday, and I needed to get my mother something really special. Mrs. Lombardo happily took me, after I told her why I wanted to go. She held my hand as we walked over to the jewelry aisle. I wasn’t certain what I would buy. Money seemed no object. I mean, I did have .50 cents with me! I knew, however, that whatever I picked would be good.
My eyes moved down one row, back down another and so on and so forth.
"Look at this one, Jhill!" Mrs. Lombardo said, with an admiration for the piece she was holding out for me to consider.
I looked at it, but shook my head that it wasn’t the one. I remember looking at quite a few, but the end result would always be that I would press my lips together, shake my head and tell her that the one in question wasn’t it–it wasn’t that special item I was looking for.
Then, down at the end of one row, I spied a pin. It was perfect! It was a dog, and it was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen! It was gold-toned, I recall, with a little green bow at its neck, but the selling feature for me was this: it had sapphire, blue eyes. My mother’s birthday is in September, you see. At the time, I didn’t know what a sapphire was, but I knew the blue eyes that I was looking at was the same color blue as her birth stone.
"That one!" I pointed, excitedly. "That’s it!"
Mrs. Lombardo picked it up for me and double-checked. "This one?"
I studied it for a moment, falling in love with it the more I looked at it. "Yes, Ma’me! That’s it!" I cheerfully exclaimed, as if I’d found the key to Fort Knox.
"Are you sure you don’t want this pretty little flower pin?" she asked, steering my attention away from the golden puppy with the lime green bow and the sapphire blue eyes, to something that was more age-appropriate for my mother.
"I’m sure!" I said emphatically. "It’s this one."
She smiled at me, patted my shoulder and said. "I’m sure your mother will love it!"
I nodded, pretty sure of it too but happy for the extra vote of confidence. We took my selection to the register, and Mrs. Lombardo helped me count out my money, then asked the lady behind the register if she’d give us a little box. That pin cost .35, and the reason I remember it so vividly is because I had a shiny silver nickel and dime left sitting in my open hand.
I was ecstatic! There was enough left over for an Icee and some candy. Imagine that!? I’d not even been thinking about myself! Having left-over money had never been a consideration because the important decision at hand was regarding a gift. That’s what this moment was about: getting the most perfect and beautiful pin for my mother. [See, it is true that when you give, you receive!]
When we got back to the Lombardo’s house, Mrs. Lombardo found some wrapping paper. She was prepared and ready to wrap it up for me and make it look pretty. However, I’ve always been the kind of person who liked to do things for myself– even back then, and even if it looked like...well, I had done it myself! Trust me, my mother and Mrs. Lombardo have had many a chuckle over that trait of mine, specifically at that age a time or two. [As I’ve been told] Anyway, we taped a bow to the top of the small box, I colored a card, and all that was left to do was wait for the big day!
My mother "oohed" and "awed" over that pin, just as I knew she would! She wore it proudly on her dress that Sunday, and I made a point of directing all eyes to that beautiful, golden doggy pin with the sapphire-blue eyes. I wanted everybody to know that I was the one responsible for it being displayed there! To her credit, my mother wore that pin several more times, until she was satisfied that she’d shown me how much she had appreciated it, but, more importantly, until she was sufficiently satisfied that I’d forgotten about it.
I’ve often wondered, years after the fact, if Mrs. Lombardo ever pulled my mother aside and said, "God, Barbara! I tried to get her to pick another pin, but she always kept going back to that darn dog!"
What I do know is that many years later, when I was in my 30's, I saw that puppy pin in the back of my mother’s jewelry drawer. We were going out to lunch, and I was in her bedroom, sitting on the bed and talking to her as she finished getting ready. I don’t recall what bracelet or necklace she’d asked me to get for her from her jewelry drawer, but I remember seeing that puppy dog pin, sitting in its box in the back of her drawer. I remember pulling it out.
Excited and surprised, I exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! I can’t believe you still have this!"
She took it from my hand and looked down at it sentimentally. Parts of the gold overlay had worn off as well as half of the green bow.
"Of course I still have it!" she told me in a tone that said it was silly for me to have thought otherwise.
As I looked closer at it, I realized that it really was a pin that would have been more appropriate for my dress back then, which is why, I guess, I had loved it so much.
I laughed. "You must have really loved me to have worn it!" I noted.
She tucked it safely back into the box and nodded. "Yes, I do!" she said in present tense, then added in past. "I really loved you for putting so much thought into getting it for me. You always were so thoughtful that way!"
I remember feeling my mouth try not to break into a huge smile as I suggested, "Why don’t you wear it today for old times sake?"
Then, she playfully shot down the thought by saying, "Don’t push it, kiddo!"
I’ve not asked her about it recently. However, I’m sure if I were to pull open her jewelry armoire today, I’d find that little puppy dog pin, sitting in its box, safely tucked away it the back of her drawer, continuing to hold within its sentiment, the desire a young girl carried in her heart on that Mother’s Day: the hope that her mother would see within that carefully, selected gift, all the love she had [and continues to have] just for her...
Written by Jhill Perran
July 7, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment