Milk was top of my grocery list. Just had enough for one coffee break. So, I told my daughter Joy when I facetimed with her that I planned to go to the store next day. Her reaction was a stern advice – no, Mom, don’t go; just use Instacart. Now, for this Lola, Instacart sounded Greek. And since I don’t know Greek, I replied, I’d rather drive to the store just 10 minutes away. She insisted that I stick to the shelter-in guidelines still enforced in our county. Better still, she offered to do the ordering for me from her home in the Los Angeles area, using Instacart. I gave her my short list, thinking it would take hours or a day for delivery to come.
Lo and behold, the delivery arrived in two hours. And the nice surprise was, a big bundle of pink-orange roses was delivered along with the food items. How awesome is that! Not only do I have my needed milk, eggs, bread, carrots and tomatoes, almost in a flash, but also the unexpected gorgeous bouquet – for Mother’s Day! Immediately, I facetimed my daughter and blew a generous flurry of my thank you flying kisses. A lesson from her – learn to use Instacart, especially during these shelter-in times.
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My son John emailed me the image of my grandson’s drawing for inclusion in my Something Curious, Book 3, a fairy tale. My 10-year-old grandson Eliott has been instrumental in shaping my story material with valuable comments, suggestions and insights, tremendous feedback from a young boy. Working with him on the story, I genuinely felt humility – while this baby boomer Lola truly felt elated, I, too, felt humbled to learn so much from this youth who, even now, doesn’t realize how his ideas effectively motivated and inspired the completion of my story material.
Roses from my daughter, for Mother’s Day.
And how awesome is this! Barely 7 years old, he created the painting which is used as front and back cover of my book series. For the first time, he recently sketched person figures, after I shared with him the story line. Yes, I’m biased, but I think it’s a clever drawing. If you’re curious about “Something Curious,” Books 1 and 2 are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Book 3 will be out in about two months.
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Early this week, I ordered pizza delivery to greet my sister Susan and her husband Mario on their wedding anniversary. She knew about the pizza, but the surprise was I ordered two large boxes, one for each of them. Not able to celebrate outside the home (due to the shelter-in-place) as was their tradition, they were totally delighted with the pizza feast.
The day after was my turn to be surprised. My sister came by, with face mask and proper social distancing (meaning none of the usual greeting hug), bringing generous servings of her cooking – chicken flavored sotanghon (thin glassy noodles), frittata (egg and spinach quiche) and numerous sticks of moderately softened asparagus (she says I should eat vegetables). How awesome is that! I especially am fond of her sotanghon. It will be gone in a jiffy after I gobble the portion saved for today’s lunch.
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Because Sunday is Mother’s Day, I want to give a very special mention of my sister-in-law Cecille, mother of three, grandmother of 11 and great grandmother of one. A superb example of dedication and love. Over the years, she has served as a “mother” to some grandchildren to help their parents pursue livelihood for their family. I particularly am in awe of her constant devotion and faithful care in attending to my brother Albert partly paralyzed from a serious stroke two months ago. His mind is active, though speech and movement are challenged.
How awesome is this! She spends sleepless nights listening to her husband’s tap on the bed for some need every two hours or so. A caregiver attends in the mornings, but Cecille stays around for instructions or unexpected demands. Every day, she prepares his fluid food fed through a tube inserted in the nose, but with doctor’s suggestion, she tries to feed him just a tiny bit through the mouth to slowly re-familiarize him with the normal eating process. Through all these, she exudes such warm gentleness and infectious cheerfulness that don’t miss the notice of her children and grandchildren.
Notice how I’ve written about family in this blog – really started to commemorate Mother’s Day, kind of in “sideways”. I have written Mother’s Day tributes to my Mom and Lola in this site – but this time, it’s for me, too, for my daughter-in-law Natasha/grandson’s Mom, and the many mothers in my family that I dearly love and respect.
And to ALL Moms, Happy Mother’s Day! How awesome is this!
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