broken promises...

sometimes the seemingly little things in life feel very big...like yesterday's call from matthew. when he was here he spent hours at a ceramic's studio working on his cupcake...he was going to give it to grandma to use as a cookie jar.  he was completely focused on the job at hand and would occasionally comment to me "you see, you'd never expect that i'd put black over these colors, but it's gonna look really good when it's glazed. i like to do things that nobody expects,  you never would have expected that aunt wave, right?"...i was pretty impressed that he could focus on a project and really care about what he was doing for hours on end.

it took a week for the glazing and then a week for the ups delivery to grandma's...he was really excited. we sent him a picture of the finished project before we mailed it. but when he opened the package, the bottom piece, the part he worked the hardest on, was all broken. 

i got a message on my answering machine, "aunt wave, i received the package, but the bottom was broken into 5 pieces", and that's all he said...he sounded so down, like he'd accepted the fate of this cupcake as part of how it is in life.  

i felt so terrible. he was so happy and ready for something good, and then another disappointment.  i called him as soon as i heard and i kept saying how sorry i was, and that i didn't know what to do, and that maybe i should send him a plane ticket and we can try again (he chuckled when i said that, and my mother said his face lit up)...but his voice sounded defeated.  

i was overwhelmed with sadness.  the last thing i ever want to do is disappoint this boy, or be part of anything that hurts him...hours later, when it crept into my mind i still felt like crying. 

i surfed around to find a similar kind of store in new jersey but they didn't have the same kind of big cupcakes.  just as i was writing this blog i had a thought.  i called "brushstrokes" and told them the story.  the woman said she thought there might be an oddball bottom of a cupcake in the back, and then i called the mall in new jersey and told them the story.  the woman said that matthew can bring in the new cupcake bottom and paint it and have it glazed there.

if all goes well,  u.p.s will do a good job of packaging and maybe we'll be able to unbreak our hearts.

Comments

[Nerissa]

Your Matthew stories are so touching. You have such a great heart Wave.

[Debora]

Aunt Wave came to the rescue for Sweet Matthew. Special People forever.