Alas, it wasn't to be. As we tried to leave the party, the car sputtered and stalled, and we were left stranded in the driveway of her friend's house. We called my sister's husband Kelly for help, and he, my sister, and my niece made the 1 hour trek into the city to help us. Though it took a couple of hours, my brother-in-law fixed the car. Kelly is a very talented mechanic. Regretfully, I have had to depend upon him many times when my 14 year old car has left me stranded. Both he and my sister have helped me more times than I care to recall and to them both, I am forever grateful.
With the car problem fixed, another problem arose. It was now much too late to go out to my sister's house to make the special gift that my daughter had planned so thoughtfully. My daughter was deeply disappointed - she now had no Mother's Day gift for me. I tried to tell her I would help her make whatever "it" was, but she was adamant - that would ruin the surprise, and she started to cry. I tried to console her, but to no avail.
As we drove home, I tried to get a sense of what she was trying to make. I hoped we could come up with an alternative that was just as acceptable to her. I hated to see her so disappointed. I knew she had a wonderful idea and held great expectations for it, even though I didn't know exactly what it was she had planned on making. She wasn't accepting any alternative ideas. My sister had hinted that this project might be a little difficult to accomplish. But, neither she nor my daughter would tell me more about the project. At one point, my daughter did tell me about one of her previous ideas. She said, "I thought about making you a wooden heart - because wooden hearts don't break." It was too much - I started to cry myself. I thought to myself, as I listened to her cry, and lament about not being able to make her special gift - if only she knew.
