Mother’s Gifts That Keep On Giving
Ray probably wonders sometimes what in the world I am going to ask him to do next. I recently strapped a toy drum around my neck and asked him to snap my picture.
The reason was simple enough. I had been talking to our son John and he had asked about what I was doing. I told him that I was repairing a toy drum. Remembering the toys of his childhood, he wondered what drum I was talking about. “I’ll send you a picture,” I told him.
At the time, we were getting ready for a family visit, and I knew a parade would be on the agenda. I had recently noticed that this toy drum and its head were in two pieces. I decided to see if I could unscrew the top rim and reattach it.
As I have done dozens and dozens of times during the last forty-something years, I grabbed my very own hammer and started to work at the kitchen table. Mother gave me my hammer when Ray and I were young married folks in our twenties. It is a gift that has kept on giving year after year.
It is just the right size for a lady’s hand. Here the hammer sits on our kitchen table, the kitchen table my mother purchased with the earnings she made while Daddy was still in the Army and she was expecting me. Every day Mother rode a bus 29 miles from Springfield, Tennessee, to the new, modern Aladdin Industries plant in Nashville. Her earnings supplied our family with a bedroom suite for her and Daddy and a dinette table and chairs for all of us.
Inside the handle is a set of screwdrivers designed like a set of Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls. A regular-sized screwdriver unscrews from the hammer handle.
The base of that screwdriver unscrews . . .
. . . to reveal a smaller and shorter screwdriver.
The process continues until I have four screwdrivers of decreasing size.
Mother’s gift is like the lessons you are teaching your children every day. Your lessons are also gifts that keep on giving.
My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you walk about, they will guide you;
When you sleep, they will watch over you;
And when you awake, they will talk to you.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
And reproofs for discipline are the way of life . . .
Proverbs 6:20-23
Oh my goodness, Charlene! I have the exact same hammer! My father gave it to me over 35 years ago, and it is as good as new! I keep it in a drawer in our center kitchen island, and it is my go-to for any job requiring a hammer or screwdriver. I love it!!
Wow! How very cool is that!
I have a small “lady’s hammer” but it doesn’t do all the cool things yours does. Funny thing, my grandmother gave it to my mom as a kitchen hammer. Mom gave it to me and I keep it in the kitchen as well. I’ve used it many times, as have our kids, on light kitchen tasks that require a little muscle. I didn’t realize this was a thing!
I love that yours is multigenerational. Very cool.