The Glass Cat

Since it is my birthday month I have been thinking about all my past birthdays, specifically the very first birthday I remember.  We had just moved from San Diego to Las Vegas so I must have been turning 5. My Grandma Woodbury was in town, probably helping us move in and unpack.  She had brought down with her a dress for my birthday but she had bought it a size too small. I remember being very upset that she thought I was turning 4 and got me the wrong size. My sweet grandma ran out to the store to remedy her mistake. She wrapped my present all up again and gave it to me. Her gift was the most precious glass cat and baby kitten. She sat me up on her lap and told me how the big cat was her and I was the baby cat. I loved it and thought she had given me a million dollar present!! She made me promise never to break it and I swore I would keep it safe. I am sure my grandma thought that poor glass cat would not last a week. I was a rambunctious kid and just ask my sister Emily about how I NEVER kept anything nice. I broke, lost, crushed, destroyed every object I owned from birth until age 20!! Emily would keep everything safe and protected on a shelf and my stuff was buried in the dirt outside. I have very little intact memorabilia from childhood. What I do have... that glass cat! I remember wanting to take the glass cat outside or next door to my friends house but I had made a promise to keep it safe. It somehow survived and sits on the dresser in my little girls room. The same dresser, in fact, that it has sat on for 23 years. My girls love to look at it and if they are lucky they are lifted up to give it a pet or two. Even as I write this I am getting teary. Keeping that glass cat safe was the first and longest promise I have kept. In fact, that glass cat might be the precious object I own!  I can not remember another birthday that I have actually spent with my grandma. But every year she calls  me and wishes me a happy birthday and tells me how much she wishes she could be spending the day with me. My grandma has always made me feel like I am her favorite!! After her call this year I hung up the phone and started to cry. How much longer do I have with her? How many birthday calls do I have left? I am so grateful that she is my grandma and that I have this wonderful memory of her... and that I still have that glass cat.

I am the one in the piggy tails and the huge smile. I sure do love that lady!!