Mothers Day

Yet another bittersweet Mother's Day. It's always tough around this time of the year because I usually have a band concert and Asia has a dance recital which is what brought my mom to come and visit one weekend two years ago so that she would get to see all these great things along with Zach's musical. She did see Zach's performance and Asia's dress rehearsal and dance recital. Unfortunately she had a heart attack before she could make it to my band recital. So every early May, a little part of me is really sad when I'm playing at my band concert or watching Asia's dance recital.

Sometimes I applaud my kids' teachers because I think if they didn't force their students to make a card for their mothers for Mother's Day, some mothers wouldn't get a thing for Mother's Day. Asia made this cute card with a little pin that had her picture on it. Her card reads:

"Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Look at the Sky. The sky loves you.
When the violets are blue I love you.
When roses are red that's when I love you as much as a circle is round."

Zach wrote a poem on a cut-out heart but thought it didn't look that great so he put half the poem on a heart card.

"No matter the cost
I am always there
I know what you're thinking
Your heart will not tear."

Where do they come up with this stuff? They're so good! You have to cherish this stuff now. Here's the two scenario's I envision when my kids are teenagers.

Scenario 1: Zach walks in my office and tosses me a card. "Here mom." He leaves quickly so that he can return to his computer game. It's a Hallmark card signed simply "Zach." My daughter walks into the room and gives me a flower, saying: "Happy Mother's Day! I'm going to the mall. Can I have some money?"

Scenario 2: I walk down the stairs to the smell of food cooking. Asia yells out, "Mom, have a seat at the dinner table. Enjoy a glass of wine!" Zach pulls out the chair so I can sit down. John is cooking something fantastic at the stove. Both children and dear husband sit down and we enjoy a delicious home-cooked dinner over great conversation. Relaxed. Unforced.

Ha ha ha! I can dream. Or I can start training them now for scenario 2! Kids, get in the kitchen now and cook me some food!

So back to reality, I spent some time on Mother's Day reading a book and relaxing on the couch. Not unlike most Sundays. I was reading "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" for my book club. Of course, I get to the part where the dad dies. It is just so well written and I know so well what narrator Francie is going through. She realizes that her Papa is gone. That she will never hear him come walking up the stairs singing a song. That all she has left of him is a shaving cup with his name on it. I couldn't help but get teary while reading that section. Then to top it off, later on John and I were watching the end of a movie on the Reel channel. It was an old movie with Ann-Margaret. She has 10 children and lives on a farm, but then she gets some kind of cancer that only gives her a little time left to live. Her husband is an alcoholic and has a hard time keeping a job, also because of his arthritis. He's not a bad dad but they know that he can't take care of the kids, so she decides to find parents for all ten children. Little by little she gives away each of her children. The hardest to find a home for is her 6 year old who has epilepsy. She ends up having to bring him to a children's home for retarded children. Just before she dies, she takes one last bus trip to see all of her children. You can tell that she's in a lot of pain and she is travelling, but she tries to hide it from her kids. As a somewhat happy ending, the 6 year old boy is adopted by a family who has already adopted one of the younger sons. And at the Mom's funeral, all the kids crowd around their dad because they realize now that he feels he has no one and they want him to remember that they're always a family. Gotta end in a happy note, right? Anyway, J and I were bawling our eyes out. Can you imagine having to give your kids away because you know you're dying! You have to watch Spongebob or something after that just to cheer yourself up.