Mothers Day

Mothers Day... O Happy Day, a day to celebrate being a mama.
Just one day... really?

I'm a momma to two, a boy and a girl, completely different and yet similar.  Similar in their love and devotion to family.  Different in most other ways imaginable.

The boy has a kind heart and also a hearing problem. "What, what?" He makes me laugh. He is really going to miss me when he goes to college next year. He laughs when I tell him but he knows its true.   Does he really think the cafeteria lady is going to butter his waffles every morning??

The lovely daughter is away at college.
Mothers Day is important to the daughter. She will call her dad, remind him to not "struggle" over Mother's Day and "make it nice for mom".  She will make sure dad and the brother go shopping together and buy me candles, a book I may have mentioned and some lovely dark chocolate. 

She reminds him she can't be here to make this nice.  "Do a good job dad", she will say in a strong, commanding voice.  You should have seen her in airport security in France. Astounding!  We were convinced she had gone undercover with Homeland Security.

He will make the daughter proud.

Then he will hem and haw and not make a reservation for lunch. He will swear his plan was to cook, as he drops me at the curb in front of our home after church. "But it's noon and I am so hungry I could eat me arm",  I holler as he drives away to the grocery store.  Yes, he is a wonderful cook but I just wanted a burger from someplace cheap and greasy, not steamed mussels and chicken francese.

Oh, but that was last years Mothers Day.

This year will be different. The husband and the daughter are both gone, each to their own corners...of the country.  The daughter to school and the husband to the new job, a few states away.

Most weekends he is home, but not this one. He had asked me if I minded him being gone on Mothers Day.  I reminded him he isn't my mom.  "No sweetie, its fine, leave me with the 17 yr old, nino.  We will have a grand time!" Grand Theft Auto time .... maybe!

Before the husband left for the airport he told the son that it was all up to him this year.  The son mumbled something about lack of funds,  never taking his eyes off his physics project.  Correction... Call of Duty project.  I think that has something to do with school, doesn't it?  He does it like a Rhodes Scholar does homework, so I just figured.

The husband left the room shaking his head.  "No worries" I say, "You can't buy me love, haven't you heard the song?"

He mumbles something about wishing he had known that years ago, and that someone in this house is not being quite honest.

So much mumbling going on....

There is no set day that my family must show me how special I am to them.

Love is all you need.  Hmm....

Love is a marathon, not a sprint.  I can't hold a years worth of "I love you mom" in my heart.  You have to spread it out, little blessings at a time.  Too much and I miss the beauty of the moment.  I miss the look of joy in my child's eyes or the crack in the voice when its said in a moment of pain.

Love, lovely love.

Love is free and only blossoms when shared.  It is fresh every morning and like manna, waiting for us as the sun also rises. 

Let's partake in the joy of it, celebrating this Mothers Day and remembering it doesn't have to end today. It could be just the beginning.

Happy Mothers Day.