Mother's Day

As far as Mothers' Days go, it was perfect.
I woke up to beds and breakfasts...

Last night at 11:00pm as I was picking up Max from a friend's birthday party, he asked if he could have some friends come over for night.
"You're just asking her now?" Adam said incredulously.
"Yeah. It's OK mom, isn't it?" Max confirmed.
"How many?" I asked.
"Jon, Adam and Kevin. Maybe Brendan too. We all have to get up early for church tomorrow, so it's easiest if they stay over."
Adam is watching us converse.
"Sure. But we have to go to Safeway to get milk. And cereal. And bread. And peanut butter..."
"You are so cool, can you be my mother?" Adam says.
"Gladly. By the way, it's Mother's Day tomorrow, I have high expectations..."

Max, Jon and I get to Safeway at 11:40pm, minutes before their midnight closing. "You get the milk and cereal, I'll get bread and muffins." We meet back at checkstand 6, pay for 7 bags of groceries and head back home. As we're leaving the store I see two young guys (say, 16 and 12 years of age) buying flowers and a small femine-type gift. "Whoa, someone left their Mother's Day shopping til the last minute." I observed.
"What kind of loser buys his mom a gift at Safeway?" Max mocked.
"I guess it would be the type of kid that feels guilty about not getting something for his mom." I reply.
"It's not my fault we didn't get you anything. We had a really good idea. You would have loved it. But no one took me to the mall. I told Clint we should go..."
"Hey Mrs. O - when's your birthday?"
"My birthday? What's that got to do with anything?"
"Just when is it?"
"Yeah, mom. When is your birthday? Has it passed?"
"Dude. You don't know your mom's birthday?"
"No. Mom when is it?"
"June 1"
"Don't worry Mrs. O. I'll remind them. I'm on it."
That boy is being raised properly.
Mine are dorks.


We got home around midnight. I set out the food for the morning, got the family room ready for a slug of teen boys and dropped into bed around 1:00 am.

Happy Mother's Day.
I came downstairs to a room full of makeshift beds and leftover breakfast dishes.
They had all left for church. On their own.
An awesome gift. The gift of not having to nag anyone to get ready.

After church, I told the kids I wanted to spend the afternoon at the lake. They could come with me if they wanted, but if they'd made other plans, that was fine with me too.

They came. So did Mandi and Zac.
We each grabbed a spot on the lawn and allowed the sun to work it's magic.
For three glorious hours we baked, read, slept, dozed...
An awesome gift. The gift of being able to read and tan and know that my kids are enjoying the very same activity.

After the sun slipped behind the mountain, we joined forces to help my mom clean up the deck and plant geraniums and petunias. The boys did some grunt work, while us females made it pretty.
Another awesome gift. The gift of not complaining when I asked them to move this and carry that.
As everyone dozed on the drive home, I felt spoiled.
And loved.

Hope your day was special and your gifts were awesome too...

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Bedding plant sale. Yay. I bought and planted 10 flats of flowers this weekend.
2. This house. This neighbourhood. This community.
3. Beach towels.


Shalom,

Did you notice the picture directly below this one? He must wax his chest, don't you think? Look at his face and neck. He is hairy. His chest is too smooth.
What kind of guy waxes his chest?