To all the mamas out there, I hope you had a very happy Mother’s Day. My older son went to a yard sale, and he sent me a photo of an elephant lamp. I already have one elephant lamp. But this one had what looked like three elephants on top of each other. Actually, when he got it home, I found the chain to turn the lamp on and off had a fourth elephant head attached. The stack of three elephant were atop a stack of books. So two of my favorite things.

I have a pair of elephant earrings. I usually wear them to bingo, and to Lehigh Valley Phantoms games. Because the lucky elephant earrings don’t necessarily bring me luck, but to the people around me, which I think is great fun.

My late mother had a superstition. She was Pennsylvania Dutch, so that was common. Her superstition about elephants is that their trunks had to be up. All well and good for lamps and earrings. Not so good for real elephants, who use their trunks in many positions.

The really funny thing was later my older son said, “I got you a Mother’s Day gift.” I replied, “Yes, thank you, I love the lamp.” He said, “No, I got you something else.”

That was very sweet of him. I would have been happy just with my lovely new-to-me elephant lamp.

Speaking of luck, my younger son could use some. He had a sore throat when his arm cast was removed. I had him wear a mask. He stayed home from school the day of the cast removal, and the day after. He still has to wear a brace for four more weeks. Poor kiddo.

One of my friends put it into perspective for me though. She noted that school will be over in about four weeks, too, and he should be healthy for summer. I needed to hear that. So much of life lately has been day to day, and the longer perspective was something I wasn’t really seeing.

Speaking of seeing, you can see my youngest son and lots of talented actors at the Young Playwrights Festival May 18. It will be at Northeast MS. Visit touchstone.org for more information. The funny thing was, my youngest was in a cast the day of his audition, and he was surprised he could still audition with a cast on his arm. I am glad he won’t have the cast during the performance.