Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness

I've spent the last couple of days wondering if Mom and Dad got their anniversary present yet but apparently didn't spent any of that time thinking to actually check the e-mail address they use for me.

(I forget! It doesn't get used for that many other things now, just official stuff where that's the name I use.)

So yeah, I just noticed today that Mom e-mailed me on Thursday to say they got it. She called it "beautiful" and "special." To me, anyway: what she told her sister got her, who never e-mails me, to e-mail me with more details:

I'm so proud that you're my niece. You made your Mom and Dad very happy. Your mom couldn't stop talking about the gift you personalized and handmade for them. She wants it on display. I can't wait to see it. You are a very thoughtful daughter!

I have some notes on this! (Which of course I am not going to mention to my aunt.)

1. I did not make this! I can't even sew a button back on. I did make this very clear to my mom and I'm sure she did tell her sister that, it just got confused in this game of telephone (probably on a literal telephone). It does make me laugh though, that anyone could think I could make a whole blanket.

2. I knew she was going to frame it! I told mother_bones this. I thought of commissioning a blanket particularly because my mom's gone all "must get rid of superfluous possessions!" the last few years, so I didn't want to get them anything too Commemorative that would just collect dust, like my grandparents got lots of picture frames and knickknacks and clocks and stuff that said 50th Wedding Anniversary and who needs more stuff right? I thought a nice cozy blanket that's the perfect size to drape over the back of a chair in winter like my mom always does would be great. But after Mom said she was going to frame the dish towel I gave them for Christmas (which mother_bones bought for them in Stornoway), I suddenly worried that the same fate would befall the blanket and I was right.

Anything I give them is just too special to be used for its ordinary purpose. Which I know is a sign of love but it makes me feel very weird and kind of disappointed. I'd just like to be normal sometimes. I'm too far away to be normal though, I'm too singular a person, in my position in their lives.

Oh well, I wanted the gift to feel special to them, and it does. I'm not really complaining at them doing what they like with their own gift, I'm amused really. I told mother_bones "I bet nothing else you've sewn has ended up on display before!" and she nodded in bafflement. Normally she sews very pragmatic things: she mends stuff and makes things for friends, she worries about things like trying to make the seams straight and other things that are difficult for her because of her disabilities. She thinks of herself as not particularly good even though I think she's great so I'm delighted to have inadverantly given her something back for all the hard work and time nad money she put into that blanket.