A Look Back On This Mother's Day Eve

One day a year, our children are obligated by decree to be nice to us and pretend to appreciate all we do by doing things they would never ordinarily do ... and I really like that day!! Sometimes they wake me up on Mother's Day with a surprise breakfast, and other Mother's Days, they forget and sleep in, then force me back into bed and forbid me to leave my room until they can scramble downstairs and fix me something to eat! (I've had some very interesting Mother's Day breakfasts!)

And sometimes I walk outside to discover a sweet greeting for all the world to see!

I don't know what they have planned for this year, but I'm sure it will be sweet and heartfelt.  I'm just glad they're old enough now to actually plan ... or make the day special at the last minute when they finally wake from hibernation and realize what day it is.  When they were young, they always wanted Mother's Day to be special, but they were too little to make it special ... so I had to do all the work ... and I was already exhausted from making every day special for them!! 

So every year I had to make a special meal ... as opposed to the hundreds of regular meals I had to make the rest of the year, and I had to take them to do fun things ... as opposed to the fun things we did all the other days of the year. Taking them to the park or having a picnic and pretending they made the day special for me filled them with pride, and it made me smile to see how happy they were. It was sweet that they recognized what the day was. They always gave me cards and gifts that they had painstakingly made at school and Sunday school at church. I loved those gifts. Every once in a while there was a plant or something practical, but most of the time it was something silly, made with macaroni or yarn, but it didn't matter what it was ... my kids took Mother's Day very seriously, and their gifts were definitely from the heart.

When you have little kids, there are going to be fights ... three little kids can only be nice to each other for so long ... and never for an entire day! I can still hear one of the kids chastising the other two and yelling, "You're ruining Mother's Day!"

I always thought those Mother's Days were unnecessarily stressful (for me!), but if they ever invent a time machine, I think I'll spend Mother's Day back in the days when my kids were little ... back when I was their whole world. They all still love me and they tell me they love me everyday ... but there is something intrinsically sweet and pure when a little child climbs into your lap, snuggles into your arms and whispers, "I love you, Mama."