Last week was a bit batty. Things are always pretty busy around here, but last week was especially so. One day went like this: Wake up. Eat. Bring Bracken to speech therapy. Swing by the library. Mail out orders for the shop. Come home. Finish canning the last batch of peaches. Hang laundry. Bake cupcakes and make frosting. Catch up on dishes. Clean the kitchen and mop the floors while Jeff and Bracken watered the garden. Move furniture. Vacuum. Sweep. Make the beds with fresh sheets. Finish cleaning for mom’s visit. We didn’t eat dinner until too late that night. (Thankfully Jeff made breakfast and dinner that day or we would have eaten even later.) I had made plans the morning of my mom’s arrival, and though I like to keep my word and my commitments, I decided to cancel my plans because I realized that I was trying to squeeze in way too much. And as my mom’s plane came nearer, all I wanted in the whole world was to see her as soon as possible.

She got a rental car for her trip this time, so there was no need for us to pick her up at the airport, but we decided to surprise her anyway and show up. When I told him my idea, Bracken was so excited to surprise his grandma for her birthday and show up unexpectedly at the airport. By the time I got to see my mom at the end of last week, I was exhausted and fried and ready to have some fun together, and our spontaneous day in town ended up being just that. It worked out perfectly to get a bite to eat in town, since we knew we wouldn’t be eating dinner until later. That night we enjoyed her birthday dinner at our house and Bracken had a candle in his cupcake too because she didn’t mind one bit. They share a special connection, those two.

We fit a lot in while she was here, as we always do. (Going to market, garden harvests, craft projects and some hilarious selfies thrown in the mix.) And of course we squeezed in a trip to the beach. Yesterday the coast was cloudy and I feared we had not chosen the best day for the beach, but we found a beach that was clear and sunny and we were grateful. My mom wore the earrings that Bracken made for her birthday, and you can see them in the last picture. (You can also see her white shawl with some buttons that Jeff made, right after she sewed those on to replace some she didn’t like.) He picked out two shells that we had found with her while we were visiting her in Florida. Each shell had a natural hole in the end. He hung the shells on loops and then on paperclips. I absolutely loved how they turned out and thought those shell earrings were the sweetest things. My friend said Bracken takes after his dad in his earring making abilities, and she is right about that.

I hurt my foot last week and then it got worse while my mom was here. I limped around and had to ditch my favorite sandals. The funny thing is that my favorite sandals were high quality, well made shoes (but I must have worn them out after all these years) and they were hurting my foot, but when I switched to my cheap flip flops my feet sighed in relief. Go figure that the two dollar flip flops would be the ticket to happy feet.

Speaking of shoes, we got Bracken some summer sandals a few weeks back. When I removed the tags the next day I noticed the tag said something about lights. When Bracken tried on his new sandals, sure enough- they lit up! You should have seen the look on his face upon that realization. He had wanted light up shoes for years and it seemed wherever we happened to go shoe shopping there weren’t any light up shoes to be had. Buying light up shoes by accident was so awesome. Bracken called his grandma that day with the “BEST news EVER!” and told her all about the surprise we had. He was able to show her his new sandals while she was visiting, and turn off the lights in the room for the full effect. Light up shoes are something you really need to see in person to appreciate.

I guess my body was rebelling to our schedule as of late and wanted me to slow down a bit because, besides hurting my foot, I started coming down with something. My head was congested and I didn’t have much appetite, but my mom made me some homemade soup and it smelled wonderful and it tasted delicious. Having my mom there to nurture and care for me, and having that warm nourishment made with so much love, increased the healing powers of that soup to be sure. My mom left today and I was not ready to see her go, I wished her trip could last longer, but I’m so grateful for the time we had. Happy Birthday again Mama, thanks for coming here to celebrate it with us!