Stuffed Animals, Fast Food, and Wine. Happy Mother's Day!

As I’m sitting here on the chair next to the two Disney stuffed animals my son lovingly picked out as last year’s Mother’s Day present,  I’m wondering if the average Mom has closer to my typical Mother’s Day, or closer to the Hallmark version.

I don’t usually get elaborate presents.  I’ve never gotten flowers.  I’ve never been taken out to eat.  While my son gets very excited about the gifts he has gotten me over the years, they are usually things he wants to use – the aforementioned stuffed animals that he curls up with every morning before school while waiting for me to finish my makeup, candy, Starbuck’s gift cards accompanied by the query of when I’m going to take him.

This year, Aiden had a little help from my husband, and a ring was ordered that I wanted.  It was to arrive by Mother’s Day.  Then, Thursday, I got an email that said because of demand, I would not receive it until mid-June.  I had to get up earlier than I would have liked this morning to let Aiden in the house after he arrived home from spending the night at his dad’s so he could attend his cousin’s birthday celebration.  I spent my afternoon grocery shopping.  My dinner tonight will most likely be some kind of fast food because none of us have the desire to wait an hour to be seated for a meal at some mediocre restaurant, and I couldn’t find anything at the grocery store deli that would appeal to all of us.

But it’s all good.  To me, being a mother isn’t about being treated special just one day of the year.  It’s about cuddling up with my son every Sunday night to watch the Disney Channel.  Taking walks to the river’s edge to look for alligators.  Being the one in the house no one could live without because I’m the only one who has the ability to find the right baseball socks in the drawer and to make the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I actually had an out of the ordinary Mother’s day this year.  The ring was not on time, but my husband and son went out yesterday and bought me a watch.  When Aiden got home this morning, he told me to go back to bed so he could bring me breakfast, and when I told him I was headed out to the patio to read the newspaper, he agreed he could bring it out there.  Best darn banana and Diet Coke any mom could ever get!  And now, Aiden is playing outside and my husband is out looking for new tires for his car, so I have total quiet and peace.

And I bought 3 bottles of wine at the grocery store.

Happy Mother’s Day!