I was in the mist of packing when came down with what seemed to be a slight head cold. However, it wasn’t long before my nose was running like a faucet and eventually I developed a dry cough. I was able to deal with the headache and runny nose, but the dry, hacking cough almost killed me. It just kept getting worse, until I sprained every muscle in my upper body. It took a few days of Robitussin to loosen it all up, but the damn thing still wants to hang on. I eventually got a good night’s sleep the night before last. Then last night I get a call at 1 am from my brother. I just out of my skin because I know he is supposed to be sleeping and he gets up at 5 am. I answer, but there is no reply. I lay there awake wondering if I should call him back. What if he is sleeping? What if he needs help? What if he is sick? What if someone broke in despite his steel security door? While I am pondering every situation, the phone rings again. It’s my brother wanting to know what is wrong? It seems my older daughter didn’t want to lay awake all night worrying, so she took the bull by the horns and called him. He returned her call thinking there was a problem. We explained that his phone had called us ten minutes earlier and we were worried. With that, we all hung up and went back to sleep.
So this morning I concocted a theory about how such a thing could happen. He has one of those damn “smart” phones that will dial anyone you want if you say their name. Now I am thinking he called out my name in his sleep and that lead to the first call from him at 1 am. And, I am not a happy camper since I have been desperate for sleep for over a week. I write him an email. I tell him I thought you keep your cell phone off during the night? How could this happen? He tells me he left it on last night because he thought his office might call. He left the cell next to the cordless phone and his radio and that somehow the signals must have crossed and dialed me, since I was the last person he dialed. I ended by telling him to call anyone else before he goes to bed, in case that happens again, so it won’t call me. Reminds me of Gilda Radner’s saying “It’s always something, if it’s not one thing, it’s another…”
Anyway, now that that’s out of the way and the “mystery” is allegedly solved, I will get back to packing again today. The house is full of boxes…empty boxes, full boxes and boxes from UPS with the new things I am ordering so I won’t have to run from store to store after we move in. Today I have in mind to pack my curio. It’s full of tiny porcelain animals that my mother bought for me at a store located directly across the street from Radio City, in Manhattan. Why did she go there? There’s a story for that…
Every year my mother liked to take us to see the Easter show at Radio City Music Hall. They would run a popular movie first. One day she took us to see the Unsinkable Molly Brown, starring Debbie Reynolds. The line was very long when we got there. We got on line and waited, but we didn’t make it in for the first show and she wasn’t going to stand outside for three more hours for the second show. So we meandered across the street to pass a little time before heading home. In the window of one little store were some shiny, miniature porcelain animals. I fell in love with them. There were little families of Chihuahuas, Siamese cats, lions and tigers and bears (oh my). My mother could see that I really wanted them, so she said to me I could pick out any two sets I wanted and she would buy them for me. I was torn. They were all so cute, but I eventually decided on the Chihuahuas and Cocker Spaniels. I loved them. We went home with my new little treasures. For my birthday, my mother took me back to the store and let me pick out more animals. And, when Christmas rolled around, you can imagine my surprise, when I opened a few little boxes and there were more sets of animals in them. Eventually I had at least 20 to 30 different sets and no place to display them. So my mother went out and bought a corner curio with four shelves for me to showcase my little collection. And when I got married, she insisted I take the curio with me to our new home. These little animals and the curio have been with me for a very long time. A lot of memories come flooding back to me now. I remember how my mother loved the black panthers for some reason. It was always hard for me to pick a favorite set. I had a soft spot for the horses because the baby horse’s legs were so thin and fragile. The baby chicks that went with the rooster and hen, were just yellow little dots.
So today, I will dismantled the collection, wash everything and carefully pack them all away. I’ll think about my mother and of all the times she went out of her way to make me happy.
P. S. Here is a website with typical little animals like the ones I have...good thing this wasn't around back then LOL Porcelain Animals of all kinds
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