I need help today, I say dully, after too many nights of too little sleep and a cough that won’t go away. The rains have descended and the allergies too and I’m feeling low and dim and all alone.
I’ll help you, she says, and she lugs two grocery sacks in from the trunk. She’s chosen the heavy ones with gallons and cans and her arms hurt, but she’s beaming.
I need to rest today, I pine, piling my woes on the kitchen counter.
I’ll make you a schedule, she says, and she bends over a pad then posts it on the refrigerator.
Relax Scedule
Sun 12:00 to 1:00
Mon 11:00 to 12:00
Tues 1:00 to 2:00
Wed 10:00 to 11:00
Thurs 9:00 to 10:00
Fri 10:00 to 11:00
Now I’ll set the timer, she says, and you go lie on your bed.
And if you need to schedule a makeup time, she adds in a stroke of management genius, write in on a piece of paper and give it to me before.
She’s thought of everything, you see, everything I need, and she gives it to me in the same way her needs have been tended and timed all these years into a sane and healthy rhythm. A time for this, a time for that. I take to my room and close the door. She turns the dial on the timer, and I feel it rushing back to me in a flood, all of it coming around again in terms never more certain, never more genuine, and right on schedule.
I am loved.
oh, you certainly ARE!
May I borrow her?
Comment by Lisa — January 7, 2008 @ 1:08 am
What a wise daughter you have raised. Of course you are loved.
Comment by Mika — January 7, 2008 @ 1:12 am
Beautiful mother-daughter love. What a gift. xo Jena
Comment by Jena Strong — January 7, 2008 @ 1:34 am
Please tell Georgia that I relish knowing how loving she is. Such a sweet soul.
Comment by Kathryn — January 7, 2008 @ 4:24 am
That is truly precious! And, I’m going to steal that schedule!
Comment by Mama Zen — January 7, 2008 @ 4:27 am
Ahhhh.
Isn’t this what we all need?
You my never know what this posy did for me, was for me.
Thank her for me.
Comment by bella — January 7, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
Dear friends, I will do my best to give Georgia your love and I trust that one day you can deliver it in person. So Lisa, yes, you can borrow her anytime. She is utterly free, but she is not cheap!
And Kathryn, one more thing that I want you and the world to know: do you remember on page 1 (go check) how I said that I met another mother at the end of my block? Guess what the other mother’s baby was named? That’s right. You guessed it: Claire. The story is about Claire and Georgia. Isn’t life amazing?
Bella, thank you. I agree in the superlative.
Comment by Karen — January 7, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
It’s true. We are all provided for. Such a small teacher. How precious.
MB
Comment by mb — January 8, 2008 @ 3:45 am
Beautiful. Hope you’re feeling better.
Comment by RocketMom — January 9, 2008 @ 6:58 am
Karen –
Come on over to collect your award! No speech required.
xo J
Comment by Jena Strong — January 17, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
love these bits. no matter how yesterday they came. they are everyday right.
Comment by latisha — July 23, 2009 @ 5:58 pm