A Precious Moment

My friend Jeremy was in town this weekend. He comes down every weekend for the Hot Air Balloon Races and then he volunteers in my classroom on that Friday. He usually spends from Thursday to Sunday with us and he stays here at our house. A little background on Jeremy...he was hit by a car when he was 6 by a drunk driver. He has learned how to do a lot on his own but he is a little behind if you will. He manages to drive himself to Reno and we have taught him how to get himself to the balloon races and he has really come a long way since I met him almost ten years ago. Back to the story...

Jeremy brought my birthday present with him since this was the first time I had seen him since my birthday. He lives on his own and doesn't have a ton of money but he always makes sure to get me a present. I tell him year after year that he can just call me but he insists. And for the very first time in my life I am glad that he insisted!

I thought Jeremy would enjoy going to my dress fitting with me. He got to see me in my dress and he thought that was really cool. Well that meant he also got to witness my major meltdown. See I was already running late when I first got home. I got home at 5:30 and we had to be there at 6. We had a wedding present that had come in the mail and of course I took the time to open that...but not Jeremy's present. Then we go to the store...I have my meltdown...we come home. I still don't open my present. I realize that I forgot all the shoes at the store! In my disappointed leaving, I forgot to pick up all the girls' shoes. So we go back to the store and then we pick up some dinner real quick. When we get home, I'm obviously sad...still not sure what to do about my dress and so on. I'm talking to my sister on the phone and I see Jeremy's present sitting there. I figure I better open it, plus presents are always a good cheer up right??

As I said, Jeremy doesn't have a lot of extra money. So he does a lot of shopping for birthdays and Christmas at yard sales. Like I said it's the thought that counts...not where he gets stuff. Well I start opening my present and I see this board. On top of the board are a CD that he made me with a birthday song and a pair of scooby doo socks. I like Scooby Doo but I can't for the life of me get Jeremy to understand that I won't wear Scooby Doo stuff...I am an adult after all! Of course the socks were purchased at a yard sale and bless his heart they have a whole in them. So I focus on the board...it looks like something I've seen before. It looks like the boards my mom used to work on. You see my mom used to draw on cutting boards or boards like the one I was looking at and she would woodburn the picture into them and then paint them. When she got good at it, she started cutting things out of wood and making them. Back to where I was...this thought is in my head and I place my hand under the board to turn it over. I swear to god it felt like slow motion! I could feel the woodburned image on the other side and I started thinking he must have made me something like my mom used to make. Or maybe it's a sign he got...but deep down I knew what it was...I flipped that board over and looked to the bottom right corner where I knew her initials would be and sure enough...THERE WERE MY MOMS INITIALS!!!

I'm on the phone with my sister when I start looking at it and I just start bawling. I'm already emotional from the dress stuff and this just pushed me over the edge. I looked at Jeremy and in a very emotional voice I ask him where he got this...I'm thinking my mom made it for him, then I realize that wouldn't be right...it's a little girl. Then I think that someone gave it to him to give to me...knowing that my mom made it. You all want to know what Jeremy's response was??

"I bought it at a yard sale. It's precious moments isn't it?"

You see Scooby Doo isn't the only thing Jeremy likes to buy for me. He also makes sure I get something Precious Moments. I used to collect them and think they were really cute. Again...I no longer have room to collect them and I have kind of outgrown liking them like I used to, but Jeremy always gets me something precious moments. All he saw was a precious moment girl and he bought it for me. He had absolutely no idea that my mom had made it. Not a clue. So I start bawling some more! I'm asking my sister who my mom could have made this for and I'm frantically asking Jeremy what yard sale he bought it at! Dave can clearly see that Jeremy is getting the wrath (or what sounded like the wrath because I was bawling and frantically asking him all these questions) of the dress alterations so he comes over and looks down at the board in my lap. He looks at Jeremy and said oh Jeremy...her mom made that. Jeremy is confused as all hell, I'm crying, my sister is stunned and Dave is over in the corner trying to hold himself together because you know he is rather sensitive haha! Once I pulled myself together long enough to listen to Jeremy, he informed me that as soon as he saw that board he knew he had to buy it because it was precious moments and he knows how much I like those. He never even saw my mom's initals on the bottom and wouldn't have even known what they were if he had seen them. The whole coincidence of it all was just too overwhelming for me.

I waited so long to open the present...I kept putting it off. Then it came on a night when I would have loved to talk to my mom, to get her advice on what to do on my dress. And the fact that Jeremy had no idea made it that much sweeter. I mean had he known it still would have been sweet, but not knowing...it was that much better. And would you like to know the greatest coincidence of all...look at what the little girl is doing in the picture...

How do you think I felt at that moment...when it rains it pours right! There I was standing in a big old puddle and here she was telling me she was there and it was going to be ok. I'm not a super religious person. I don't know exactly where I stand on the whole signs from above thing. I would love to believe that they really happen but then there is the skeptical side of me that thinks it's just impossible. But when a sign like this slaps you in the face...it's a little hard not to believe. Again, the fact that Jeremy had no idea shows me that I was meant to have that board. I needed to open it on the night I did...that's why he didn't send it to me. That's why I didn't open it when I first got home...I didn't need it then. I needed it when I was sad and things with the wedding weren't going my way. I needed my mom to tell me that she was here, she was going to be here on the day and she would see every single part of my wedding.

So for now, I have to truly treasure all of Jeremy's yardsale presents. He never knew just how much of a "precious moment" he would give me this year for my birthday!