My Mother's Day Surprise

One of my favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. At the end of the movie, Dorothy said
"if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard."

Dorothy was right. Sometimes the things that make us the happiest are right in our back yard, yet we take that for granted and go looking for greener pastures. We think we need to get away, far far away.

Most of my life, my friends have almost always lived quite a ways away from me. When I was younger, I would have to wait until someone had the time to drive me to their house just so we could hang out. This was frustrating to say the least. Then when I got older, and I could drive myself, it got a little easier. As much as I loved driving to visit friends, I always thought it would be cool to have a friend who lived close by, preferably within walking distance.

When my husband and I were married, I moved from my home state of Ohio to his home state of Pennsylvania. We were given a very nice piece of land, out in the country, by his Grandfather. While I was very excited we were gifted with two acres of land, my hopes of having a friend close by were slowly fading. For the first couple of years or so, I pretty much kept to myself. We were newly married and starting a family. Our son was born in 2002. I was beginning to be content with just the three of us. But when my son started kindergarten something wonderful happened....

Our school sent out red ribbons to be placed at the bus stop of new kindergarten students. I tied ours to the sign at the corner of our yard that held a sign with our house number. While out driving one day, just down the road from us, I noticed a mail box with a familiar red ribbon tied to it. I told my husband that we should stop and introduce ourselves, after all, our kids would be sharing a bus ride for the next 12 years! Being a nervous person, I never stopped. Later at a school function, we ran into that family. I'm not sure who stopped who, but I do remember someone saying " I think you live on the same road we do!" Little did I know, with that little statement a seed was planted that would blossom into a beautiful friendship.

Our kids are in first grade this year, call it luck or call it fate, they ended up in the same classroom. We have become great friends with that family down the road. This year for Mother's Day, I wanted to surprise my new friend. I think she is a terrific Mom and I wanted her to know that. So, I got a flower for her and planted it in a cute little Girl Scout tin. She is a Daisy Scout leader. Little did I know, she had something up her sleeve for me too! Below is the cute little gift she sent over for me on Mother's Day!




On the back it says that this bottle was dug up on our road in 2008, a part of our past for all to see. I told you she was terrific...and crafty too! So it just goes to show you. To find a treasure, you don't have to look much farther than your own back yard...or in my case, just down the road!