My Mother's Day Gift

About a month ago, after a seemingly unimportant trip into town, Rob arrived home looking rather smug. It wasn’t long before he divulged the secret behind his smugness; he had bought me a mother’s day present.

I wasn’t sure HOW to respond to his triumphant confession at first. Rob is not a huge gift giver. He’s also not prone to secrecy. But his mother has taught him well, and he has always made an effort to make me feel special on mother’s day. Maybe this time he had gone all out? I decided not to build this up too much and responded with an appropriate amount of gratitude and tried to let it go.

As the days passed by and mother’s day grew closer, Rob continued to mention this “gift” on numerous occasions. Sometimes as we sat peacefully in the hottub after the kids had gone to bed, he’d break the silence by voicing his thoughts aloud, “Did I mention that I bought you a mothers day present?” Othertimes it would come up when Toby mentioned that he was learning about mothers day at daycare,

“Toby,” Rob would say to him, “That’s great! And do you know what? I bought mommy a present for Mothers day which we can give it to her together.”

Despite my attempts not to read into things too much, I couldn’t help but be SLIGHTLY curious. I remembered a few years back mentioning to Rob that when our family was complete I’d like a piece of jewelry with my kids’ birthstones in it. Had he ACTUALLY remembered this?

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. I know for myself that by the time Mother's day actually rolled around I was definitely eager to unveil this much-mentioned accomplishment of Rob’s.

I didn’t have to wait long. As I stood at the kitchen counter making my coffee I heard Rob and Toby coming upstairs with my gift. (Rob was urging Toby on to give it to me). I resisted the urge to turn around and look as Toby crept towards me, gift in hand. Finally I felt his little hand close around my fingers and I turned around and peeked.

After 31 days of built up anticipation, the triumphant gift was finally in my hands.

It was a frying pan.