The Plunger

My mom was a little odd at times. I say that in a loving way. She was my best friend and taught us all how to laugh at ourselves and at life.

In the early 1980's, during my single-mom days, I told her I wanted a plunger as a Christmas gift. The toilet in our apartment wasn't always up to the job and I was sick of borrowing one from the manager. Mom told me that wouldn't really be an appropriate gift.

However, Christmas morning there it was under the tree. Wrapped in a nice box with a big bow. This little puny plunger that couldn't unclog a water bottle. We all knew it was a joke, but she had packaged it lovingly and tied multi-colored bows all the way up the handle. So I placed it under the tree as a decoration. And every year since then it has gone under my tree. All but a couple of the ribbons are gone, but the memories are strong. It's not an easy thing to explain to people - why there's a plunger under the tree. But it's a fun story to tell. I told Ed it was an Italian tradition and he actually believed it for a bit!