A Day Only A Mother Could Appreciate

I received 2 lovely hand made cards, each with beautiful sentiments, a school-project coupon book colored & addressed to me, a photo-frame-cube decorated with the finest craft materials a kindergarten class has to offer. There was also a lovely purchased card from my teen son that about made me cry. Then it was off to breakfast.

The poor waitress was obviously inexperienced & overwhelmed. This fact made the whole breakfast process take longer. My food, once received wasn't even hot. We asked for it to be heated up but ended up having to ask for it to be put in a to-go box since everyone was done eating & I still hadn't received my meal back again. Prior to food arriving there were memorable little bits of family conversation that didn't exactly warm my heart but at least got a shock-&-awe effect & occasionally some laughter from me.

There was the flinging of the wadded up straw paper across the table at various times. There was the bouncing on the booth's seat cushion, kicking under the table & noogie's. The reminders of, "Don't pick your nose" "Sit up straight" "Please don't do that" & so on. The parade of men-folk to the bathroom led by my husband, leaving only my teen son behind at the table. Then at one moment of my daughter's frustration since she was sitting on the side with the 3 little ones, her utterance of, "If we were in prison I'd so shank you right now, grrrr" Charming isn't it? Rockwell-Esq? Yes, just lovely. I asked my mature 16 yr old, silverware less daughter not to lick the whip cream off her hot chocolate cup because I thought it was bad manners. She reminded me, "Mom, we're at a truck stop!" Did I remember to put the Xanax in my purse? - no, oh gosh. This only happens once a year so I muddle through. Not only did I muddle, but despite all the craziness, I actually enjoyed it & reveled in the fact that all of us, except my oldest daughter, were here together!

My car was driven through the car wash later to be followed by my children working together to clean out the inside for me. We went to Petco to get a new higher-wattage light bulb for the lizards. I charged out of the car & bee-lined it to the store's bathroom, not feeling well for some reason. My sick cuddly 3 yr old, now better must have passed the germs my way. The bathroom was very simple in grays & white, save for a single picture. It was a picture of a calico cat with a green background, the thing stared straight at the toilet. I couldn't help but think there should have been a litter box in the background of the cat picture, not just green. Anyway, after this we came home. Again I barely made it in the door & to the proper place, feeling ill.

After lying down for a bit freezing I finally felt better. I took my children to the park which today was over-ran by families. It was nice but for various reasons we weren't there long. My 3 yr old sat in my lap & pronounced, "Mom, me really love you". My husband & son did some things in the yard. My kids played & were happy. Everyone did their own thing for dinner so I didn't cook. It was a slice of heaven. A strange slice, not everybody's slice, but a slice just the same. The daughter that wasn't here with me, my oldest, sent me a lovely emailed sentiment which meant the world to me. Bad service, cold food, flu be damned, I had a nice Mothers' day & hope all the other moms out there did as well. Be Blessed readers & have a beautiful week.