Mother's Daze

To be honest I started getting depressed about Mother's Day about a week ago. It seems like, along with many other holidays, it has become very commercialized and everywhere I turned was "the perfect gift for Mom." And, because holidays like Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, are often "under celebrated" in my house, I was starting to anticipate a less than thrilling Mother's Day. Throw in some guilt for being ungrateful, and I wasn't feeling my best last week.

And Mother's Day was much like I expected. Bryon and Sam were in Oklahoma camping so when a storm blew through at 3 a.m. I had to get up with Tag the Dog who is compelled to pace, scratch, howl and sit on Abby and Jake when it storms. He had calmed down by 6 and since it was a weekend I was sure the kids would sleep until 8, but no, both of them were up by 6:30. And they no longer were Abby and Jake, they were oil and water. The only thing that broke up the fighting, scratching and bleeding (yes, bleeding) was Jake knocking me on the head while yelling, "GET ME PANCAKES."

Good times.

When Bryon and Sam got home around noon he asked if there was anything I wanted to do. "I want to lie in bed," was all I could think of. Even then I vacillated between sadness and guilt ... For me, Mother's Day should be special - it doesn't have to be extreme or expensive - just thoughtful. And when no one in my family shares my belief, that's when I get sad.

So I thought I would skip this blog entry. After all, so many post-Mother's Day blogs are about how wonderful the day was and what wonderful kids they have, and this blog entry is well ... depressing.

But then, thank God, I read Meg's Mother's Day entry. She managed to say exactly what I felt, but with the humor and gratitude I had such a hard time conjuring.

So thank you Meg and all the honest moms like you. Yours was my favorite Mother's Day gift.