Mother's Day Revisited

As Mother's Day approaches, I start to think of past Mother's Days and reminders of when the kids were younger. At that time, we always had three of them here (Keith, Liz and Michael) celebrating with me. Now that Keith is in Florida and Liz is in New York, it all falls on Michael who is still here. This week he thought he might take a trip to Vancouver to play in a tournament there. He asked me if we could celebrate Mother's Day on Wednesday instead of on Sunday. I actually looked at him like he was crazy. Needless to say, he did not go to Vancouver.

Tomorrow, we'll be going to Long Island to visit with Liz and Bryan and have our Mother's Day celebration with them. Since their baby is due in 3 1/2 months, I'm sure we'll be doing some decorating of the baby's room as well as some shopping. Liz never misses the opportunity to take me shopping whenever I go to New York. I can just imagine how much this Mother's Day trip is going to cost me. And to think that next year, she will be a mother and celebrating her very first mother's day. Now she'll get to experience that very special day once a year.

Last year, they came here for the weekend and I had to work on that Saturday. When I returned home from work, there were flowers planted everywhere in my garden. That was my present.....all of them had spent the entire day making the yard beautiful. It was a vision of beauty when I pulled into the driveway and saw what they had done. That Mother's Day stands out for me as one of my favorites.

But, if I go back in time, there is one all time favorite Mother's Day for me. That was the year when Michael got his first job umpiring in some of the younger kids' baseball games. I'm guessing Michael must have been about eleven or twelve at the time. He was so proud that he was making his own money. He decided that he was going to buy me a Mother's Day present and pay for it himself. For days on end, I would catch him watching QVC and could just imagine what this viewing would result in. Later on, I found out that once he decided what he wanted to purchase, he called up the 800 number to place his order. They asked him for his credit card number which he obviously didn't have. He then called Bob in his office and explained what he was trying to do. Bob, of course, gave him his credit card to use in lieu of Michael giving him the cash.

So all this went on behind the scenes and then it was Mother's Day morning and I was presented with the gift. It was beautiful and one I will treasure all of my life. At the time, those diamond tennis bracelets were all the rage so that's what he purchased. Of course, it wasn't real diamonds but looked close enough. In the middle of the bracelet in gold, it spelled out the word MOM. This gift was precious enough but it was what he said to me when I opened it that I will never forget. He said, "Just in case anything ever happened to you, they would know your name." As I'm typing this right now, I'm laughing and crying at the same time. To him, MOM was my name and I was obviously the only MOM to him. I ask you, as a mother, does it get any better than that?

In the following years, it always became the joke in our family that Bob could spend hundreds of dollars on my present and maybe even thousands if it was a good year and Michael would stop into the local Hallmark store and buy some little thing and it would always be my favorite gift. Poor Liz, who spends countless hours trying to find just the right thing, says she can't even compete with Michael's gift....no matter what it is. But Liz, just know that yours are just as special to me as his are. Afterall, you are the favorite daughter! Keith prefers to take the easy approach with a greeting card and gift card...again a very appreciated gift because the gift card is always to somewhere I love.

So as another Mother's Day approaches, I wish all good things for all you mothers out there and I hope that all of my son's friends, who read this blog, make your Mom as happy as my kids make me.