The blanket was a cream colored fleece blanket that I edged and appliqued with a lacy rose applique on one corner. It was a Christmas gift to my mom several years ago. Mom loved this blanket. It sat on the foot of her bed for years. (Timmy the Cat loved it too.) One day, recently, when it was cold out and she needed to ride somewhere in the wheelchair, I put it on her lap. Ooh, she loved that warm blanket.
I don’t remember the last time I saw this blanket. It had to have been during a recent trip to the ER or even when she went in for the pacemaker – yeah, it was probably then – that I put the blanket on her lap, and she kept it with her for the entire time she was in the hospital. It kept her warmer than the heated blankets that the hospital supplies and gave her some comfort. I like to think it reminded her that I love her as she went in for her surgery.
However, somewhere along the way, I lost track of the blanket. Maybe it was during the typical distraction (on my part) of getting her released and trying to get her home that I lost the blanket. The other day, I went to get it for her as we were going to a doctor’s visit and I realized we had lost the blanket. I looked everywhere. I assumed that since it wasn’t in mom’s apartment that it was gone. The problem is that the blanket is the same color as the hospital cotton blankets they use. I assumed that since we likely lost it at the hospital, someone in the hospital laundry room saw it and was now enjoying my handiwork.
I intended to call the hospital’s lost and found, but I didn’t. I guess I figured it was a lost cause. (Ha! Pun not intended.)
I’m a firm believer in karma. Well, I guess I’m a bigger believer in the fact that my mom knows a million people and touches people every day and they never forget her.
Tonight my mom called me.
“Guess what I have sitting on my lap?”
Um, Timmy? I dunno.
“My blanket! Someone brought it to me.”
I almost thought my mom was delusional, but she’s not. I confirmed this by checking with the front desk at the retirement home. Everything my mom said was accurate. Someone from the hospital brought it to my mom. Laundered, in a blue bag. More than two weeks after she had her pacemaker installed, and a week after she was released the last time.
I have no idea who or how it was found, but it was. It has appeared and it’s with mom again. I nearly started crying. I exhaled with deep gratitude.
Why does a silly blanket mean so much to me? Why does it mean so much to my mom?
It’s just a blanket.
It has to be the love quotient.
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