Of M & M’s…

No, not the eatable ones, rather messages and “Mary’s”.

Years ago when our older son wanted desperately to babysit his little brother we started by leaving them home alone for 10 minutes, then 15, then finally a whole half an hour – always leaving a message as to where we were and when we would be back – this was well before cell phones!

After a year or so we finally worked up to being able to cross the bridge leaving them behind, but the notes stood us in good stead with our older son: we had left notes, so he learned to leave notes.

With the younger son this natural process never happened and many the day left me feeling frustrated when I didn’t know when he had gone out, where, nor when he could be expected back. Thus started the modern version of “notes”, i.e. the bulletin board.  This was on the side of the fridge in the kitchen, but when I re-did that several years ago we needed a

new place: after reflection it was all moved into the entryway toilet. Then I got a white board sheet and a blackboard for the door as well.  The whiteboard was used for the longer lasting remarks, pictures or sudden need to draw tulips, Easter Eggs, Christmas Trees or Happy Birthdays whereas the “black board” was more for the “10:00 – I’ve gone out for an hour” messages.

Currently the cork message board holds a precious drawing from the daughter of the house that we visited last weekend, the black board has gone missing in the recent renovations and the white board was just its boring white when I got up.

Then there are the many Mary’s in my life. They span generations and I reckon that it won’t be long before I can go from Mary A to Mary Z with very few holes. We had dinner with one Sunday night, trying to catch up on about six months as she has recently retired and thus is always gone. One of my most recent friends belongs to this lot as well and a more fascinating woman I have rarely met (how we met is another story, one that proves that he who doesn’t act on a whim looses out big time). We don’t get together often, but when we do neither has any lack of experiences, words, exchanges of DVDs, books and the wonderful trivia of our lives.  Today we had lunch together – we’re smart: I pay for both one time, she the next thus guaranteeing many more fun meals. And as usual I return from those few hours with a smile on my face – the sun all the brighter for this wonderful new friend.

Then I took a look at the various message boards and smiled even more as a new message had appeared on the white board (my housemate and husband left this morning.)

I love M and M’s!