Museum of Me: December 2022

 

Hello and welcome to The Museum of Me. This month's installment asks the question: What is the best gift you've ever received or given? In December our thoughts often turn to gifts, but after a lot of consideration, the best gifts I've ever received and given didn't happen at Christmas time. That's okay, they were still wonderful gifts - needed, wanted, and given from the heart.

My mother-in-law Sylvia was a wonderful cook. She didn't prepare fancy or complicated food, but she cooked and baked for a family of seven when John was growing up. She made dinner every night at 5:30 pm, baked bread for the family several times a week, and I could almost always count on finding some homemade "goodies" (cookies, cake, or pie) in the kitchen when I visited. I'll admit that I often took her cooking for granted, assuming she would prepare a delicious, filling meal if I was eating at her house. She rarely wanted any help in the kitchen, but eventually, she agreed to let me wash the dishes while she dried. We had lovely conversations while cleaning up after she fed all of us. 

Her pie crust was the best I've ever had, light and flaky, and even though I watched her make it numerous times, my pie crust has never come close to hers. 

When I had Ryan, she came over to visit when I got home from the hospital and asked if I needed any help. I said, "No, thank you; I need to figure out this motherhood thing," and she respected that. As a mother of five, she probably thought that one child was a piece of cake, but she just said she'd be back in a couple of days. When she returned the next week, she brought with her the best gifts I've ever received - food she had prepared when I was feeling so overwhelmed I could barely manage to brush my teeth. She brought macaroni & cheese, assorted casseroles, meatloaf, and even my favorite chocolate cake. She continued this for about three weeks, and I told her then and for many years afterward how grateful I was to receive such wonderful gifts. It was exactly what I needed at the time, it made me feel loved and helped me get a handle on how to be a mother (with a demanding baby that never slept). 

She did the same thing when Justin was born, and I needed it just as much then because Ryan was an active two-year-old. If I'm a halfway-decent mother, I think I owe much of that to the example my mother-in-law set and the great start she gave me with her generous gifts.

About 15 years later, I was in a position to give back some of the amazing gifts I had received. John's father was diagnosed with diabetes, and metastatic prostate cancer, and required heart surgery. Sylvia was feeling completely overwhelmed by his care, but she said she didn't need any help. I remembered what a difference her gifts of food had made to me, and I tried to give her gifts in kind. I prepared casseroles, meatloaf, chipped beef, Salisbury steak, and some casseroles. Often I would just drop food off in the refrigerator or freezer and leave her a note because she was at the hospital with my father-in-law. This gave us a good "Grandmom story" when she offered my brother-in-law a piece of pound cake, and they were both disappointed when the hoped-for pound cake turned out to be a meatloaf I had put in the freezer. 

So how about you? I'd love to hear about the best gift you've ever received or given. We'll be back on the second Friday of January with a brand-new installation. Thank you for visiting The Museum of Me and reading about wondrous gifts received and given!