I used to loathe mother's day. My first 2 were less than happy, and I actually forbade its observance for a year after that. My first (when I was pregnant) I spent the whole day waiting for something to happen, but Austin had been advised that it was bad luck to do anything for a pregnant woman. All day I answered friends who asked what he'd done with "nothing yet". It was embarrassing, but in hindsight, not that big of a deal although my hormones led to a huge tear-fest that night anyway. The second first (when Riley was 6 months old) my mother in law pitched such an unholy fit that Austin was spending mother's day with me and not with her that he left me halfway through the day so spend a few hours trying to coax her out of the bedroom she'd locked herself in to leave me a nasty voicemail message full of curse words and threats.
Yay Jerry Springer inspired families, right?
But then, once Riley was in preschool, the most fabulous thing happened and he came home with some beautiful handprint artwork that was wrapped lovingly in tissue paper and ribbon. He was so proud of the picture he'd made me. I remember him wrapping his little 2 and a half year old self around me and exclaiming "you're my best mommy!" as he gave me my present on Friday afternoon because he just couldn't wait until Sunday. Mother's Day was about him, not about me. Not about my mother in law. Not about anything but about a sweet little boy getting to tell me in his own fingerpaint and happiness that he was happy God let me be his mommy.
I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.
I've enjoyed several fantastic mother's days since then. Our 3s preschool teachers host a Mother's Day Tea each year that brings me to tears every time. I have a box under my bed full of cards and stories transcribed by grown ups saying things like "My mommy is beautiful and I love her" beneath a stick figure of, what I can best guess, a chicken that's been mutilated by a dinosaur with blonde hair. I love them.
Today was awesome, too. I got to sleep in and Austin and the babies made me breakfast. Then Savannah and I got to spend some girl time at the Spa with my mom and brother's girlfriend getting our nails done. It's so fun to have girl time with Savannah! Logan and Savannah both planted flowers at preschool. Savannah decorated her pot and Logan grew marigolds from seeds. All three kids made me adorable cards and Riley's teacher helped the kids fill out a questionnaire. One question he answered that stuck out was "My mommy loves". Most kids probably wrote in "chocolate" or "reading", but Riley wrote "Me." I'm glad that he knows. Logan made me a necklace out of plastic beads that I've been wearing all day, and he's tickled pink.
The kids also took me to see a movie. We saw Hop, which was cute, but even more adorable was that they pooled together their piggy bank money to buy my ticket. I cried. I'm a pansy like that.
I'm so lucky to have my kids. They're completely awesome, even though they sometimes make me insane.
The afternoon was a little less happy, with a reminder that we don't have our mothers forever as we left the kids with my brother so that we could attend the visitation hours for my godmother's mother, who passed away this last week. They're holding up well, especially considering her husband's mother passed away the week before. Standing in line to greet my godmother behind my mother at the funeral home where we buried my grandmother definitely hit me pretty hard.
After the visitation, we stopped at Trader Joes (we used to have one right across the street from our apartment when we first got married- oh how I love TJ!) to pick up a few things and then the whole family enjoyed dinner at my brother's house (formerly my grandmothers). We're so lucky to have family close by. I love the legacy that my children get to be part of and wish they had Austin's brothers and sister closer, too.
Happy Mother's Day!
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