Can you feel the summer coming to an end?
And, were you able to do what you wanted to this season?
This week I am wrapping up August by fulfilling a long-held desire. I’m spending a week’s vacation hosting my mother on Martha’s Vineyard.
My mother and I on the ferry boat to Martha’s Vineyard for a week of vacation!
In my adult life, I don’t ever remember having a whole week together – just the two of us — on vacation. Not sure why. Maybe life got in the way?
She is an amazing woman, my mother. In the past year, she’s endured two major surgeries and extensive recoveries, and yet continues to run her own company in Huntsville, Alabama.
Her energy puts me to shame.
When my father died six years ago, I so worried how my mother would cope. I should not have been surprised when she emerged even stronger and more powerful and independent than I’d ever imagined!
Her own mother died at age 56 and her mother’s mother at age 50.
So you can imagine how deeply grateful I am that I still have my mother, youthful at heart and full of gusto, at age 76. I savor these times, and I ache for all women who have lost their mothers or are losing them to illness or aging.
Growing up, my mother was the kind of mom who scratched my back every night; told me every day she loved me; taught me how to put on make-up; and cheered me on to learn to iron my clothes (despite my pleas that I was left-handed and ironing was difficult!)
Today, less than 24 hours into our vacation, my mother and I fell into the pattern of our life as mother and child.
She couldn’t wait to share a new cookie recipe, and I couldn’t wait to make her proud that I am an expert baker!
She sat in my kitchen today, calling out the instructions for Ranger Cookies and tutoring me in some brand-new-to-me baking techniques. I dutifully followed her directions.
Mom and I trying out a new cookie recipe
And, just as it has always been together — as mother and daughter, teacher and student, mentor and mentee — we created something fun and delicious and wonderful.
I’m gonna so love and cherish this week ahead. (I only pray my mother doesn’t find out I no longer own an ironing board;-)
Do you have a long-held dream or wish such as the one I had about going on vacation with my mother?
What would it take for you to make it happen by the end of 2010? Please feel free to share your dreams and hopes on in the comments section below. (You’ll also find the Ranger Cookies recipe there!)
As summer winds down, I hope you have a glorious week and that I get to see you soon!
Love,
Debbie
