Such Is {a crafty} Life

Shall i compare thee to a ...dining room table?


I want you to look at these two pictures.
What do you see? To the untrained eye it might look like a very messy dining table and a woman. Yes, you would be right. That dining table is mine and that woman is my mother. What do they have in common? Well i'll tell you.

That table was once nice and new. I got it second hand off my sister, she got it second hand off who knows who. After moving it from her place to mine the base got a little chipped. After i got married I moved 1200kms to my new dhs place. On the way we had a car accident. If you can't tell from the photo, its a glass top table. When we packed up our trailer to move our stuff we cushioned it between my ensemble bed. After our accident, other then making sure we were both ok our first thought was for the table. Not a scratch on it! My poor violets weren't so lucky, they ended up upside down on the floor in the back of the car....they survived though until much later when they died a natural death of not being watered by me. Anyhow getting back to the dining table.....its a hell of a thing to move. Not only is the base heavy but the top is very heavy and you have to roll it or you just can't carry it without hurting your back. So its been moved 3 move times since we've been married and always up stairs and always with care to not smash it. The top has held up very well but the base is a bit knocked up. But unless your looking closely at it you can't really tell.
It looks pretty ordinary sitting there in my kitchen. But it needs a lot of maintence. Since its glass it shows every little mark including the grubby little finger type. So i clean it with a glass cleaner to make it look nice.
Its also very handy. Not only do we eat off it, but if you look closely you will see various items on it. There are some toy trains - so it's also a train track. There are camera lenses - it also serves as a work bench for my dh when he's taking apart his lenses to fix. There's also a fruit bowl on there - for quick snacks. It also serves as my bench for preparing food etc. Its also a place where i can stretch out material when i'm making clothes. So many uses for a common old dining table. I'm sure you probably do the same sort of thing with yours.

Now I want you to think about my mother and your mother. She was once nice and new too. Well she's still nice but she was young and fresh once. Over the years she's recieved a few knocks. She's moved around the country and overseas to live. I'm sure her 'base' is a little knocked up and chipped from accidents and just from the riggors of life. She doesn't always look like she's just been polished...as we all don't..especially first thing in the morning right? But after a little bit of care and effort she looks brand new.
She might look like just any woman, but thats not all she is. Like my dining table she has many purposes. She's also a mum - providing love, kindness, a shoulder to cry on, food and endless hours of devotion to her family. She's also a friend and someone to talk to when noone else will listen. She's also a wife - sharing her life and love with her dh for eternity. She's also a daughter of God - a wonderful person with great spiritual gifts that are hers and noone elses.
I admire my mum so much. She has been through so much in her life, more so then my poor old dining table and she has come out of it all ok.

She gives me hope that if she can get through life like she has, then i can too.