How Was Your Mother's Day?

I hear mixed reviews on Mother's Day. Some Mom's enjoy it. Other...not so much. Is Mother's Day a day of pampering and appreciation for you, or just another crazy too much to do day? I've had some of both. I'm happy to report that this was a good year for me.

I bought myself a Mother's Day Gift this year. It's called Musings on Motherhood. My friend Susan Corpany wrote it. I'm really enjoying it so far. It's witty, and funny, and best of all it's real. She pays tribute to her Mom, but it isn't overdone or sappy.

A witty example: You might expect a book about motherhood to start off with a heartfelt tribute to my wonderful mother, but I've got to say that my mother is a real loser. It started when we were young. She had five kids and yet never won a single game of Candy Land. What are the odds? Somehow she always got stuck in the Molasses Swamp or sent backwards to the Peppermint Forest just in time for an exultant four-year-old to march on to victory. She was no better at the other games of childhood. Her Hungry Hippo died of malnutrition. Her Cootie was always Quadriplegic. In Chutes and Ladders she alwasy rode that really long chute to the bottom. After all, she wanted her children to grow up feeling like winners.

A funny example: I didn't know that Mom always felt guilty for being a working mom. During the summer, we had a deal that if the house was clean and our chores done when she got home from work, she would take us swimming. We would wait until about a half hour before she was due to come home, and then we would scramble. It's amazing what five kids can do in a half hour when they want to go to the local pool.

And how about real: Housekeeping has never been my mother's highest priority. I think that with a husband and four sons, somewhere along the line she just threw in the towel. It's still in there somewhere under the stuff. We've never found it.

Here's a fun spot:

Yesterday I spent some time with my son, Scott. I asked him what I had taught him that turned out not to be true. He said, "Nice guys win in the end." I told him it wasn't the end yet, so he didn't know tht wasn't true.

Then he said, "I can't think of anything else. Everything you taught me was true." He was rather more effusive in his praise than usual. When I asked about that, he reminded that he'd had a minor surgical procedure done on his knee and was on medication for the pain. "I'm pharmaceutically enhanced." Even if it was the drugs speaking, it put a smile on my face. In fact, I'm still smiling.

Based on what my mother told me, I'm worried my face could get stuck that way.

It's not too late. Get yourself a little Mother's Day Treat, get Musings on Motherhood for ebook here or paperback here.

Linda Garner