Loose Ends

I have always wanted to be known for something - the one who could always be counted on to bring brownies, or the one who would volunteer to write the blurb for the PTA newsletter.

One thing I always aspired to was the "mom who made the neatest Halloween costumes." Instead, every year I would confess creative failure to my other half who once suggested that I make a black cape for a budding Dracula. I made the lining red so we had a Little Red Riding Hood the next year.

But it was my other half who always saved the day - once making wire frame glasses and painting a wooden dowel white with a red tip so our daughter went as Helen Keller for Biography Day at school. She picked this over my idea of an old shirt and cut offs - Robinson Crusoe. I think she said, "Who's that?"

As time went on, the kids grew up, and I was no longer asked to bring brownies or contribute to the newsletter. I decided to take up tennis - admittedly after my athletic prime. I envisioned being at the top - well, near the top, of the beginner league. By the end of the first clinic I had failed to get one ball back over the net inside the court. So I fell back to plan B - best dressed. Why I thought this would work in tennis when it didn't work in the rest of my life …

When I could still see well enough to do cross-stitch in the evenings, I could see that with each project my skill improved. The goal was to have the back of the piece look as good as the front. I had visions of invitations to display my work in a Smithsonian exhibit of busy mothers' handcrafts. But then my masterpiece became too much of a challenge to pick up and work on while I waited in the orthodontist's office, so I switched to quick and easy. And my masterpiece languished in the closet. Yesterday I ran across it and looked at the back side. No need to look at caller ID to see if the Smithsonian called.

Now I am working on my gardening. Maybe there is some renown for me there. I am working on the flower lady title. I thought that I might be able to offer cut flowers to my friends when they were having an "occasion," but I have seriously underestimated how many plants I would need to be generous. At last count, we had six stems of gladiola blooms over a period of three weeks. Hardly enough for an arrangement. And four were a salmon color and the other two magenta. Obviously this aspiration needs a little more work.

Weed lady is attainable. I am cultivating several weeds (on purpose) because they look great in arrangements and last for a week or more. And there is not much competition for that title.