Happy Mothers Day
Well its Mother’s Day weekend and it feels odd, very odd. This will be the first Mother’s Day for me without a mom. Usually by now, my sisters have asked me if I want to “go in” on an amazing gift they have already procured for our mother. I am terrible at picking out gifts and remembering dates, seriously terrible. My sisters know that so l they always pick up my slack.
Call me a softy but sentimental gifts mean the most to me. I like gifts that have been made by hand, or painted with creativity or inscribed words that came from a place of reflection and love. I am not concerned with the craftsmanship, skill or the grammar, sometimes the worse the better.
I still have cards my daughters made for me in school or perhaps they sat down at home and wrote with the most intensity and effort that their little hands and hearts would allow at the time. Every time I find them in a folder, I feel a flood of emotions rise in my heart as I do now when I write this.
Last year I made my mom a spinning puzzle table, it was a serious stretch for my limited carpentry capacity, but with the help of YouTube and the advice of a few skilled craftsman, I completed it, and it worked! I’m happy that she actually used it quite a bit before she departed this earth. I even sat with her a few times and tried to help her complete a puzzle and I am not a fan of puzzles. In fact, the mere sight of an unfinished puzzle strewn across a table generates incomprehensible stress for me. I have trouble breathing and I start biting my fingernails again. I’m a “fixer”, I like to fix things quickly then move on to the next fix… There is nothing quick about a thousand-piece puzzle.
Today, I accompanied my daughter as she picked up my grandsons from daycare. My oldest grandson had filled out a questionnaire (with help, he can’t write just yet) about his mother (my daughter) and it was amazing. The accuracy and simplicity in which he answered the questions from; favorite color, favorite food and drink along with what her job consisted of, was to say the least, touching. The thoughtful and heartfelt answers to the questions accompanied by the palm tree forest painting were his gifts for Mother’s Day. They were all made from his heart, not his wallet and they are forever priceless.
Mother’s Day Sunday is the largest call volume day of any day in the year which is clear evidence that we as a society still value the truth, guidance, acceptance and love of our mothers. Thankfully, we set aside one day a year to call them or visit them and tell them that we love them, this year I can do neither which makes it odd and sad. Counting my siblings, (I’m the youngest) she had 68 Mother’s Days and all I can do now is hope that in some small way, we made them good ones for her.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s this weekend. You always kiss it and make it feel better, you hug us and mean it, and it is important to note that nobody can apply a Band-Aid to a Boo Boo with more love and compassion than you do.