The Mother's Day Gift that Wasn't

I have learned that I must be very specific when giving Travis gift ideas and to be very careful about what I say I want in casual conversation. I'll give him props. My Baby listens to me!

Thank goodness I was VERY specific about my Mother's Day wish this year. Travis was considering buying me a shot gun! NO kidding. My e-mailed Mother's Day request got to him whilts he was making final plans to secure the gun. Whew! Close call.

Imagine my surprise and amusement when I unwrapped a jigsaw a few years ago for my birthday. Travis and I had been out cruising with the kids a couple weeks before (by birthday is in December) admiring Christmas decorations. I specifically like homemade wooden lawn decorations. I told him, "I need a jigsaw. It would be handy around the house and small enough for me to use for crafty things without hurting myself or someone else."

Travis was listening and took my request quite literally. In my mind, I thought a jigsaw was more of a "home improvement" type purchase that wasn't categorized as a birthday gift. Yes, I have used my jigsaw and, yes, we do still laugh about the birthday present every time one of us pulls the jigsaw out to use.

I have to give Travis a "hand clap" (for those of you in Kansas we call it a "hand," or "round of applause") for listening to my ramblings about hobbies, dreams and things I want to try.

We were headed to Baton Rouge in very stormy weather to go to the skeet shooting range, where Travis had a date for a shoot-off with his co-worker buddies a few weekends ago. The weather had been very dicey all day and I was not thrilled about going along just to make sure the kids behaved and stayed safe so they could watch Travis shoot. I was expressing my frustration with him. I said, "This situation would be a lot more fun and interesting to me if I could shoot, too. I actually want to learn to use a gun and go to the shooting range with you, it's just that we have four kids and that's pretty impractical for this stage in life."

Travis was driving and already busy planning what kind of shotgun he was going to get for me after I finished saying "I want to learn to use a gun and to go to the shooting range with you." He apparently didn't hear the, "...that's pretty impractical for this stage in life" bit.

He had picked out a gun that was a good weight and "fit" for me and had it all planned out for Mother's Day...that is before I told him exactly what I wanted.

I look forward to a time in my life when Travis and I and, possibly, all of the kids can go shoot skeet together and a I can have my own personal shotgun. I've also planned out the kind of Harley I will get when Travis and I have the freedom to ride the open roads (assuming we can afford it, of course). Until then, though, I will continue being thrilled about doing safe and family-friendly life-stage-appropriate things in life.