The Mother of All Days

This Mother’s Day, I find myself thinking more about my own mother than about being a mother.  My kids are grown now, and gone are those days of slobbery kisses and cards made in school and funny gifts from the dollar store.  I’m quite sure they’ll all call today, but I’m more concerned with connecting with my own mother who is six hours away, but still on this side of eternity and at the other end of my telephone.  There were some rough teenage years, but they were just a hiccup in a long mother-child love story that I never want to end.  I’ve had a mom longer than I’ve been one and she has known me longer than I’ve been in this world, knowing the good, the bad, the funny, the sad.  I somewhat marvel at how the woman who spanked me became my best friend.   It may be a Hallmark holiday, created to sell pieces of paper and postage stamps, but having one day to celebrate someone who cared enough to wipe both ends of you seems inadequate; and I will use this one day, at a minimum, to say I love you to the one who bore me.  Unlike my mother, I’m not much of a greeting card giver, but this year, my husband and I wandered slowly down the card aisles looking for just the right combination of picture and verse.  It wasn’t there and with disappointment we left without purchasing a card, but the desire to send a message remained.  Onto the computer, then out with the scissors, the construction paper, even the glue….until it was just right.   These were the pictures and the words I wanted to share.

 

She liked it.  She cried happy mamma tears.  And today she will be on the other end of my telephone, like she always has been.  I love my Mom.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be recounting my days as a mom and  scrolling through the love on paper I have received myself.  Like this book made by my oldest:

or these creations by my second child:

or this from my youngest:

I look at their creations and I cry happy mamma tears.  And today they will likely be on the other end of my phone, as they often are.  I love my kids and am so glad to be their mom.