Mother’s day

Let’s face it, some Mother’s Days just aren’t that great. It’s not always the Hallmark picture of flowers and puppies.

Well, maybe not ALL Hallmark ads are great.

And husbands, as much as we love them, have to be trained. Once, when I commented about the lovely flowers my dad had given my mom, she said, “Do you think he ever gave me flowers when you kids were younger? It’s taken YEARS to train him.” And I understand. I’ve been married now for almost 19 years, and we’ve had some less than stellar mother’s days (sorry, honey. You may want to stop reading now). I remember when my first child was little and it was one of my first mother’s days as a mother. And I kept waiting for my husband to do something GREAT for me. I had bought presents for my mother AND for his mother, but hadn’t bought anything for myself, not had I really hinted about anything I would have liked as a mother’s day gift. I went to church and there were the customary sappy talks designed to make moms cry or feel guilty for yelling at their kids, and flowers for the moms. I remember looking out the window at the cemetary and seeing people decorating a grave, and I started to cry. My sweet husband asked me what was wrong. I broke down and blubbered about how he hadn’t done one thing for me for mother’s day. I tried to be nice and say that it’s ok, I didn’t really need a mother’s day present, but I couldn’t. Mother’s day was supposed to be special, wasn’t it. I’ll never forget what he said (and I’ll never let HIM forget it, either), and I’m sure a lot of new husbands have said the same thing. “You’re not my mother.” Oh, the stab.

Husbands–No, your wife is not your mother, but she is your WIFE and the Mother of your children, and as such, should be treated special on Mother’s day. She gets you a gift for Father’s Day, doesn’t she?

Thankfully we have progressed from that stage, and hubby usually remembers that it is Mother’s day. Usually. There have been a couple Mother’s days when he was out of town, and that was pretty much miserable.

But this year, I put in a big time hint. As in, I took him the ad, and said, “This is what I want for Mother’s Day.” Simple, right? Necessary.

In the morning, he and the kids made a lovely brunch. It’s better than breakfast in bed because then we all get to eat together. He even took John outside and they cut some tulips for the table. It was nice.
And the best part? There was a PRESENT. A WRAPPED present. On the table. Hooray! They didn’t all forget! Someone actually shopped! And it was the present I had asked for! Even better!

And let me tell you, I’m excited to read some books on it! So are the kids, and we later had some arguing in the car over who was going to use it, but it’s all good.

As I was helping the girls bake a cake for later, Ryan helped John write a talk for primary. A mother’s day talk. I have heretofore been the designated talk writer, so I was HAPPY to turn this one over. Both Ryan and John did a very nice on the talk, by the way.

At church, there were the customary talks on Mother’s, but none brought on the guilt. Our ward has the graduating seniors all talk on Mother’s day, and I think it’s a grand idea. Well, I do until next year, when I’ll have a senior, who will be forced to talk about Mothers. Then I don’t think I’ll like it. And fudge. Our ward gives out fudge. Yum.

Primary was the usual hectic mess, but once that was done, we had time to frost a cake and jump in the car to go to my parents’ house for dinner. Chicken enchiladas! We all ate WAY too much, and enjoyed our visit.

We hurried home to the see the finale of the Amazing Race (yes, we have priorities, people). I am Surprised by how it ended, but not disappointed.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. My hubby, in fact, summed it up nicely when he said, “Mother’s day is like opposite day. Everything we would normally do, just do the opposite, and that should cover it.”

Thanks, sweetie, for the fabulous mother’s day. Hopefully we can make your Father’s Day just as nice.