Hanging out with her son

He is very entertaining. And fairly talented with a felt tip marker.

At Christmas he asked me what I would like to have for a gift. I know that he isn't in the most flush position, and for me the joy is in giving and not receiving. So I asked him not to buy me a gift. Of course, he was insistent. At that point, reluctantly, I asked for a holiday video.

Then I told him that for my birthday all I wanted was a drawing of a dragon. The only specification I gave him was that it should be the same size as the painting he made me when he was in 5th grade because I wanted to hang them side by side.

He said, "No problem mom, six weeks is plenty of time for me to draw you a dragon." Well, five of those weeks have gone by and tonight we were talking. When there was a lull in the conversation I decided to ask how the dragon drawing was coming. He replied by telling me that first he needed to get a piece of paper. I burst out laughing and he demanded to know why.

My husband is always telling me that I have more paper that Wal-Mart, so the needing paper comment was truly funny to me as there is definitely no shortage here. I explained that when I was selecting his gifts I almost bought him an artist pad and a selection of drawing implements. He replied that I should have since I was going to be so picky about the size. Then he prattled on about how he could have drawn the dragon on a napkin or a piece of toilet paper, but no, it had to be the same size as the sunflower painting. He followed these comments up with, "That's what I should do, fold you an origami dragon from a square of toilet paper for your birthday present."

It's been an hour and I am still laughing out loud over this.

About the 5th grade painting:

It was inspired by Van Gogh's Vase with Twelve Sunflowers and was done in tempera paint on a piece of manilla paper and measures 12" by 18". It has been hanging prominently on a wall of our home since the day he brought it home - more than 10 years ago. He is a bit embarassed about this, but I truly love the painting so it is going to stay there until the end of time.

It is heart warming to me when he has a friend over who hasn't been here in a while and they see the painting and then remark that their mom still has the painting they did as well.