Mom's TeaPot Lamp....

When my husband's mother passed away, a lot of the treasures in her house found their way to our home. One of mom's favorite lamps is now in our kitchen. It's just a little stained-glass lamp in the shape of a teapot and teacup-- the teapot part of the lamp is actually suspended over a teacup, and tiny crystals are "pouring" from the pot to the cup. Both the teapot and the teacup have tiny bulbs in them, so it's more of a night-light than a reading lamp. Mom bought it on one of the home shopping channels, and she just loved it. She had ordered just one, to make sure it was as nice as it appeared to be on television, because she had returned a few other items from there that weren't up to her expectations.

When she got it, she absolutely loved it and called it a "happy little lamp," even though she was more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker. She tried to order another one for me, but the teapot lamp had sold out and they weren't getting any more of them anytime soon. Not to worry, she said... when her time came to "pass on," the teapot lamp would be mine. When we were all at mom's home after she passed away, my sister-in-law told me to pack up the teapot lamp for shipping here. Apparently, mom had told her where the teapot lamp should be after she was gone.

That teapot lamp is sitting on top of our fridge. I turn it on just about every night, and I always make sure it's lit up for our parties and holiday dinners. I turn it on during the day as well, when I need mom here for a little support. I can't even begin to count the number of times she would call me during the day just to chat, and I would call her as well, just to tell her about my day.

I've been turning on mom's teapot lamp every morning since we got back from the Hill Country. I turn on the switch and say out loud Save that house for us, mom. I know it sounds silly, or corny, but I just have a feeling that it may just work. I'm too nervous about all of this to say "If it's meant to me, it will be." My way of thinking is that "If it's meant to be, then make it be."

My husband has been looking over all of the paperwork that the Hill Country realtor sent him on the cottage. Looking over the original deed, we saw that the present buyer purchased the property for "our" cottage on March 17th, which is my husband's mom's birthday. Well, of course, I looked at my husband and told him that "It's a sign!!!! Another sign!!!!" (Leave it to me, and I can find you a "sign" in just about anything.)

So again, I'm trying not to think about the house up there, but it's very hard. I still have the pictures of it on my computer, but I haven't looked at them in days. It's just too difficult to keep looking at something that we may or may not get. My mind sometimes wanders and I find myself making up mental-lists of what to take up there.... as soon as that happens, I pick up a book or play the piano or do some housework, just to get my mind away from that house. As I'm typing, my husband is on the phone with the realtor and they're going through the paperwork that will get us into negotiations with the seller.

Mom's teapot lamp is lighted and glowing, and I've thought of taking that up to the cottage rather than keeping it here. I want part of mom to be up on that mountain, and the little teapot lamp seems to be the perfect thing because it's more home-y than antique-y. I've also looked at our friend Frankie's picture and told her to watch over that house. I know that if Frankie were still alive, we would've taken her to that house and she would've sat out on that deck with a cup of coffee and told me that we'd driven her straight to heaven. She would've sat there and cried, just because of the beauty of it all.

Between mom and Frankie, you would think we'd have enough angels watching over that cottage for us till all the papers are signed, sealed and delivered. As my dear friend Blanche used to say: From your lips to God's ears.