Pay back is a B**CH!

Oh, Marysia, my dear, sweet sister. You are soooo gonna get it!

Here is the story behind these lovely items in the picture: After my mother died, we had the awful task of emptying out her house. The siblings (there are 6 of us) all amicably decided who got what of the sentimental items and items that may have had any value. But, in the end, we inevitably got down to the nitty-gritty that we had to make a decision about. Conversations usually went something like this....

Sibling #1 : Awwwww.....look at this! Do you remember this?
Sibling #2: Awww.....yeah! Ma always kept this (insert location of childhood home)
Sibling #1 (to #2): Do you want it?
Sibling #2: No, I don't want it. Do you?
Sibling #1: No, I don't want it.
Sibling #1&#2 (sigh in unison) But we CAN'T get rid of it!
Siblings #1&#2 (directed to siblings 3,4,5&6): Hey, do you any of you want this?
Siblings #3,4,5,&6: No!
Siblings #1&#2: *SIGH* Now what? We CAN'T get rid of this!

And so this went several times. There were some pieces whose only sentimental value for us children was the fact that we always saw the item around our house as we grew up, and for whatever reason, my mom chose to keep it. And this is where it all began.....

Now before I continue, I would like to say that some people might think that this is terrible that we are playing such games with some of my mom's belongings. But we both KNOW that my mom would find all of this funny and if she could, she would be in on the hi jinks.....OK, I may proceed.

One day when Marysia was in Buffalo, Marysia and I were working on clearing the nitty-gritty. Our system included piles. Each time we came across an item, we placed it in a pile. Goodwill, trash, my pile, her pile, this needs to go to one of the other siblings pile, etc, etc. I am not sure who started this but slowly the "we can't throw this away" items would end up in each others piles. I would tuck away the anchor relic in Marysia's pile and eventually I would end up finding it back in my pile. I found the anchor in my purse after Marysia visited Buffalo. On a recent visit to Baltimore, Marysia got it placed in her bathroom before I left. For Marysia's birthday, I surprised her with the kitty cat prom favor. And when I had to ship some items to my sister, she received the ceramic clown bank.

So, I guess revenge is best served cold. When I least expected it I got all three of these items back. They were in the box of items Marysia had shipped for Madeline's birthday. The funny thing was, I saw "fragile" marked on the box and wondered what Madeline could be getting that was fragile. But, as the box was opened, tucked in with Madeline's presents, these items were wrapped separately for me. THANKS MARYSIA!!! Don't fret, they will return!