Tribute to Moms – Mothers’ Week kicks off

Esther with daughter

All week on the blog

Special tributes to moms

Endearing stories of motherhood

And a chapbook project!

Mothers’ Week kick off

Let’s begin with a funny story by Esther Miller…

Shopping without baby

by Esther Miller

My daughter was about a month old the first time my husband felt comfortable enough to watch her alone for more than a short time. It seemed like a lifetime since I’d been out of the house on my own. I was going shopping! No car bed to set up (car seats were just coming on the scene then), no stroller, no diaper bag, NO BABY! For one glorious morning, life would be normal.

I had a whole three hours before I had to be home to feed her, so I cranked up the radio on the oldies station (how could Elvis be an oldie??), rolled down the windows (car air conditioning was still an expensive option), and I was on my way! I even parked clear at one end of the mall, far out in the parking lot, and enjoyed my brisk, solitary walk to my favorite store. The morning was mine!

I shopped. I looked. I ate. I proudly checked my reflection in shop windows. No more baby fat! Life was good. Best of all, I made it the length of the mall and back without one pit stop!

A breastfeeding mother ignores feeding time at her peril. Dire consequences await and there is no hiding said consequences, so I knew when I had to start for home.

On the way, I remembered that I was out of flour and my plans for the afternoon – since Daddy was home to watch our usually fussy baby – included yet another attempt to make bread from scratch. So I stopped at a busy supermarket, bought my 10-pound bag of flour, and lugged it to the checkout counter. Even the express line was creeping. Babies were crying, a toddler on the next line was pitching a fit, and I was saying prayers of thanksgiving that I wasn’t his mother.

Finally my line inched forward and the sweet little lady ahead of me caught my eye. “And how old is your baby, Dear?” she asked me. With a surreptitious glance down to see if I was already suffering consequences, I replied “A month and two days. But how did you know I have a baby?” “Honey, ever since that baby two aisles over started crying, you’ve been bouncing that bag of flour on your arm.”

Life with a baby eventually became normal and I finally learned to make a decent loaf of bread. Now the babies are grown and the grandbabies are teenagers. Life is good. Life would be wonderful if I could still walk as briskly and make it through the mall without a pit stop.

Esther Miller

I’m a mother of two and grandmother of two. My husband and I have been married almost 40 years. I spent my childhood in the Midwest, and lived in California from high school through retirement. We traveled for a year and visited every state in the lower 48, then settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Professionally, I was an occupational therapist serving children in special education.

I’ve had a wild collection of volunteer jobs that nobody would have paid me to do, but they allowed me to develop skills I never would have gained in the workplace.

Interests include gardening, cooking, traveling, and amateur radio.

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