in·ge·nu·i·ty [in-juh-noo-i-tee] noun, the quality of being cleverly inventive or resourceful
When I was a little girl, I thought that my mom could do anything. She could sew, she cooked from scratch while still in her business suit, she danced, she made halloween costumes, and she volunteered in her community. And then, sadly, there came the day when I was sure that my mom did not know anything about anything. Lucky for us both, I have now lived long enough, or been challenged by parenthood enough to come back around full circle. From my grown up perspective, I see my mother’s imperfections, and rather than frustrate and embarrass me, they shine a brighter light on her gifts. VC, who is three years old, was recently admiring the curtains that Mom made for our nursery and sighed, “Lola is a genius!” I know exactly how she feels; but what I really admire is that even when there is something she may not strictly “know” how to do, she just figures it out. Incidentally, this is one of the qualities I love most in my husband, but that’s for another day.
Mom used to love the show MacGyver. If you’re too young to remember, the title character was always evading danger by creating devices out of whatever unlikely ingredients were on hand. I realize only now that that was probably because there is a bit of MacGyver in her.
I’m grateful that my mom is teaching my girls her skills in the garden, with thread, and in the kitchen; but more importantly, I hope they will inherit from her the confidence and creativity she has to make something beautiful and useful out of seemingly nothing. I’m pretty sure CM has it. After her first sewing machine lesson, she took it upon herself to upholster the fairy sofa she had recently made from bark and twigs.
