From the Vault: Mother's Day 2009

I came across this email I'd sent to a photography colleague a couple years ago, about my ill-fated Mother's Day in 2009.  Thought I'd share it with you because in hindsight it was pretty funny.

Mother’s Day was a two-day event in the eyes of my 5 year old son, Thomas. On Thursday, I was set to attend the “Moms and Macaroni” luncheon at his preschool. The night before, he excitedly declared that the next day was Mother’s day, and then told me an elaborate story about the dyed-macaroni necklace he made for me. He then stopped, looked around, and said in a hushed whisper, “but shhhh….you don’t know about the necklace.”

Thomas woke up on the actual Mother’s Day in a bit of a snit. He did not want to give me the card he made and the gift certificate for a massage my husband got for me, so he ran past me and threw it at me instead. The envelope for the gift certificate was made of vellum and hit me squarely in the eye. As my eye watered up from the blunt force trauma, Thomas said I shouldn’t cry because it was Mother’s Day.

He later redeemed himself while I was in my office editing photos (I know…I shouldn’t have been working on Mother’s Day)…snuck down to my office and re-gifted the aforementioned massage certificate (this time gently) on my desk…then said he had something for me and handed me a bouquet of tulips and grape hyacinths…with dirt and roots and the actual bulbs still attached…that he had ripped up from the garden. He did all of this while dressed in a monkey costume that he wore this past Halloween.

FYI…It’s very difficult to be angry on Mother’s Day at a little boy handing you uprooted flowers and bulbs while dressed in a monkey costume, even if you can only see him out of one eye.

Finally, my 14 year old daughter, who has been at odds for me for months in her adolescent angst, gave me a homemade card and a beautiful bracelet made by Ugandan women that the purchased at a fundraiser. I’d expected nothing from her and this was a total shock.

I ended the day going to a local farm and purchasing some lovely perennials, which I planted in the big hole of now-absent bulbs.

So, regardless of how the day pans out, be happy on Mother’s Day.