Happy mother's day

It's late in the game, but before the sun goes down on this Mother's Day, I wanted to express my gratitude to all the mothers in my life: my own Mom, my step-mom Lo, all of my sisters who are moms (whether to their own children, foster children or nieces and nephews), my many good friends who are moms, and all the generations of mothers and grandmothers who have gone before me and woven the fabric of my family into what it is today.

Today was busy for me. We all slept in and then Jim cooked a delicious breakfast. As soon as I finished eating, I put a roast, onions and mushrooms in my crockpot. Audrey is cutting her eyeteeth right now so after that I rocked her to sleep for an extra little nap. Then it was time to start getting ready for church (which takes a long time because everyone around here except Jim moves slow on Sunday mornings and I forgot to do our ironing last night).

Suddenly it was 12:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch, wasn't dressed, hadn't peeled carrots and potatoes to put in with the roast, and hadn't gotten Audrey up from her nap! So we were a bit late to church, but the only real drama came when Jimmy refused to sing in the special program for moms because he was worried about it being "too loud" up in the choir seats where the kids had to sit for the program. I told him it was okay for him to sit with us and he could just sing to me at home.

Right after we got home at 4:15, I fed Audrey and put her down for her afternoon nap, and then started to get a plate of dinner ready to take to a lady from church who just had surgery this past week. I had forgotten to turn my crockpot up to high, so the carrots and potatoes were underdone and I had to zap them in the microwave to have them ready on time to deliver.

As I was waiting for the elevator to go up to Margie's apartment, I looked across the lobby and saw some potted plants on a console. The pots were shaped like a trio of brown owls; very kitschy, probably circa early 1960s. It made me smile and tear up for a moment because my Grandma Mary (my Dad's mom) loved owls and used to have some almost like that in her living room. It was a gift, in a moment of trying to do something kind for someone else, to feel connected to Grandma again, however briefly. And then I was off and running again, up to Margie's, then back home to have dinner. Maybe someday I'll actually take the whole day off from cooking and slow down for Mother's Day. Maybe not.

Oh, and I want Mom and Lo to know that I will have a special video clip for them of the kids for Mother's Day. It will just be a day late.