..Like Pasta on a Jewelry Box

"I wish i had wings like an angel! I wish i could have wings so i could fly up in the sky!"
Hearing those words was all it took to get my mom to cutting, gluing and coloring.
I was five years old, and we were living in the US. My brother had just been born, and i was feeling a little out of the spotlight. I suddenly wanted so many things, i had so many caprices, wishes and desires, and they all fell on my mom.
So with those words, she went about to making me wings.. angel wings to be precise.
A large piece of cardboard from the boxes in our garage, and some glue, glitter, and paint were the required ingredients for my wish to come true. An hour later, i was running around the backyard with rainbow colored cardboard wings strapped to my back.. my arms wide open, swishing and swooshing in the wind.. and my smile.. beaming under the sun..

My face couldn't contain just how happy i was.. not only because i now had wings with magic glitter.. but because mommy made them for me.. she did spend an awful lot of time with my new baby brother, but still.. mommy still loved me after all..
That's what matters the most when you are a child.. just how much mommy loves you. And with a new baby in the house, i wasn't so sure anymore..
The next day, at school, i enthusiastically hand-crafted for her a shiny colored jewelry box. After painting a round empty cheese box with bright colors, i added the final touch to the box.. four small shell shaped pastas dripping with paint.
It was mother's day. And i couldn't wait to get home and see mommy's face as she examined my hand-crafted gift. I could hardly wait!
When i got home, i rushed through the house to find her. There she was sitting on the couch, i jumped up and down in front of her, my hands, behind my back, tightly wrapped around my gift.
Happy Mother's day!!! i blurted, as i flashed the jewelry box so close to her face.
She gasped, exaggerated of course, but as a child, exaggeration is exciting. And as she gently stroked the firm pasta shell on top of the box, i breathlessly explained to her all the steps it took me to make her this most amazing gift. I always, and still do, loved explanations. Especially, when it was me who was doing the explaining part and others who were doing the listening part.
And with that, mommy listened to me, as her eyes teared up. My mommy, always so gentle and sensitive, teared over a painted pasta jewelry box.
She loved her new jewelry box, she told me, as she hugged me tight.
I felt so proud, i've held that moment in my heart ever since.
Years have passed, and my mommy still makes my wishes come true. Maybe not with the exact ingredients, glitter and glue don't really find their way into my more adult-like concerns.. but nevertheless, she still makes them happen.
On this mother's day, i wonder.. what could i possibly offer her to let her know just how much she means to me.. just how much i appreciate her.. and how much i pray and hope, with every little bit of my existence, that one day.. i will be just as wonderful a mother as she is to me.
Mommy, i love you.

Happy Mother's Day.