Her Day

While I cannot say that I've seen my mom on every single Mother's Day, I can say that I've always had the choice to do so. Some years I'm sure either I was sick or sulking or traveling for work or had spent the day just prior with her - whatever the reason - I'm sure there were some years that I just, for whatever reason, did not see her on "her" day.

We were never the family where the children snuck downstairs, launched a massive effort towards making breakfast (trashing the kitchen in the process), and then all bounded in to shower my mother with flowers and burnt toast. I can't ever remember my mom still being in bed when my sister and I were awake, for one thing. But that whole "Family Circus" scene was just not who we were as a family.

My mom and I talked on the phone Friday, when I knew her present would be delivered. The first thing she talked about was that she'd decided that my calling on Friday would suffice for talking with her on Sunday. (I then had to explain to her that I have a flat-rate calling plan and, because of that, it really doesn't cost me anything additional to call her.) Next was that she was glad that both my sister and I had forgone gifts. ("Guess UPS hasn't been by yet", I thought to myself.) She made me promise that I wouldn't send her anything, so I crossed my fingers and justified my fib by qualifying it with a quietly said "else" at the end. I got the full update on how everyone was doing (dogs are well, Dad has new medical stuff going on, my sister still hates her job, etc.) and that was about it.

When I called (again) on Saturday, she was excited about what I'd sent (a signed glass vase). She was going to research the artist and was already scouting out windows it could sit in front of. She lightly "tsk"ed me for the item but I told her that it was already too late to return it so she'd have to keep it.

Anyway, as I sit in my living room writing this, I do feel a bit of melancholy. Not for not seeing her today ('tho I'll admit that'd be nice) but for not having the big "Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed" memory to smile back upon. The good news is that there are so many other memories to smile about.