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As a seven-year-old, I remember having trouble trying to figure out what to give my mother for her birthday. I had previously made her a beautiful mug from one of those ceramic cafes and she already had a huge wall of my watercolor masterpieces from art class. I needed to get creative this year so I started listening in on her conversations. The one item she kept mentioning was the antique buffet sitting in our dining room. I had never really noticed it before and only used it when I needed one of our board games, which were all stored in the cabinet. When I took a good long look at it, I realized what she was so unhappy about. It had started to look a little shabby. The shine was wearing away and the detailing was starting to fade. I knew just what to do.
Keep in mind that I was a seven-year-old, so the thought of suggesting to my dad that we buy her a new one never even crossed my mind. Instead, I decided to be resourceful and fix the item we already had. Out came the paints! Mom should never of thought I was ready to graduate from watercolors because out came the permanent ones. At this point in time, I was in my "purple phase," so you can only guess what color became the main attraction. The surface was covered in different shades of splotchy purple. Imagine Seurat's pointillism technique in the hands of a non-prodigy child artist. I thought it looked lovely. After several minutes, I stepped back and determined that my work was done. I just knew that my mom would love it!
I took a big piece of wrapping paper and covered the dining room cabinet so that she would not see it before the next day, her birthday. The next morning, I proudly walked her over to my masterpiece. I could not wait to see her reaction when she saw my handiwork on her run down buffet cabinet. She smiled at my father, who threw me a puzzled look. I just grinned broadly, knowing that they would both be so proud. Needless to say, the look of horror on my mom's face when she pulled off the wrapping paper was not the one I expected. Boy oh boy did I get in trouble. I certainly learned my lesson!
Nevertheless, my mom did end up with a new discount buffet cabinet for her birthday courtesy of my dad. This purchase would never have happened without my help though, so I knew I had given her the best birthday present possible! |
