“Often when you think you’re at the end of something
you’re at the beginning of something else.”
-Mr. Rogers-
journal entry:
When my children were young they played at home or at a neighbor’s house who had children the same age. I sent my children back and forth, always to and from people I knew, within walking distance of our home, usually within sight and earshot. So, when I heard the term “mommy cards”, I thought they were talking about “mothers day cards”. I was wrong. With mommy cards, you buy special cards like business cards which cost twice as much as business cards. They have special boxes to check so that you can design a “play date” for your child with a perfect stranger “mommy” whom you met at the park just today or at the gym. I don’t know about you, but we mostly hung around the house when my children were young where they made messes and played with each other. We just had one car when they were small, so grandpa went to work and I busied myself with frivolous things like cleaning, sewing, baking, cooking, changing diapers, hunting for things, wiping faces, finding more paper to color on and fixing lunch. Oh, and washing clothes, folding them, putting them away, weeding flower beds, planting the garden, looking for the dog and the hamster, organizing toys, cleaning pantries and planning dinner. Sometimes I made cookies or jello right during the middle of the day. When other children did come over to play, they were not strangers. I knew them from church, school and neighborhood along with their mommies and daddies. If I said that I knew their mommy wouldn’t let them do something . . . I did. I liked it that way.
Well, perhaps I am out of touch with the times. I did order 10 Mommy Cards from Tiny Prints. Rather than using them to connect complete strangers with my grandchildren . . . I mounted all ten on a piece of white card stock with double-stick tape and made a color copy onto a fabric sheet. Mommy cards became WONDERFUL sewing labels for kids’ stuff. If the stranger playdate at the park doesn’t work out for you . . . here is an alternative use for your ” mommy cards” !
“I’m nobody . . . who are you?
Are you nobody, too?”
-Emily Dickinson-