My mother grew up in Oregon and spent most of her youth playing in the coastal rain forests, delighting in nature and the wildlife to be found amongst the trees and shrubs. As an adult she loved to garden and would always have a place for various native plants. Mom’s shelves were filled with little brass, stone, and glass figures of owls and frogs. Several years ago, a catalog contained some decorative script in a frame that seemed to be a poetic blessing. However, it was a silly joke, reading:
May the light always find you on a dreary day.
When you need to be home, may you find a way.
May you always have courage to take a chance.
And never find frogs in your underpants.
That was just too perfect for my mom’s birthday, so I ordered it right away. While awaiting its arrival, we found a cute wind chime that had lots of frogs hanging down in it. When the time came to wrap up her present, the little frogs were carefully arranged between the folds of some new underpants, and the plaque placed on top. The first thing Mom saw was the wooden plaque, after she’d read it and chuckled, she thought to look beneath and had another laugh. She said it was a perfect gift because she’d needed the underwear too!
Over time, and particularly with the past year’s adventure of getting Mom’s house sold to cover the costs of her residential care, that gift had been forgotten. I’d been putting many dirty and painful hours into sorting, boxing, selling, and hauling things to charity. We’d filled two dumpsters before Mom’s house was finally empty.
In one of the last boxes of items that I’d brought home were some questionable items that I wasn’t all that attached to, but hesitated to part with just yet. The box is still not unpacked, but I happened to look more closely at one of the pictures that had graced the walls of Mom’s little mobile home. It was the plaque we’d given her so many years ago. It still has the price sticker from the estate sale. After 4 days on display for sale, and being placed in various piles, the present I’d given my mother so many years ago had come back to me.
It may seem a small reward for all the hours of work taking care of my mother, but to me, it is a priceless treasure, because for a few moments, my mom was back with me, whole and undamaged by age and disease.
I love you, Mom. May those frogs and happy times populate your dreams.
![Photobucket](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/SisTwo/frog.jpg)