Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a mixed bag under the best of circumstances. Although children can be sweet, Mother's Day is really about what Dad does to make Mom feel special, right? Today, without Mat, I thought it would be about as much fun as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Mat didn't actually have the best record with Mother's Day, however. One year he forgot entirely. I realized this pretty quickly, but decided not to say anything (e.g., be a martyr). All morning I thought, "It's OK. It's no big deal that he forgot Mother's Day." I repeated this mantra in my head until about noon, when a flip switched (probably prompted by a tantrum from one of the boys, then two and five). I gave Mat a piece of my mind and stormed out the door to take a long, long walk.

While I was gone, he wrote me a a book of cartoons called, The Mother's Day Book for Kimberly, or "Trying to Think Like I Think You Might Be Thinking."

The first page features a conversation between worms. The wife worm says, "You remembered!" and the husband worm is saying, "Of course. I may be a slimy worm but I wouldn't forget Mother's Day!"

Another page features my two-year-old standing on my head, saying (as he often did), "I want juice!"

I came back from my walk with a cooler head, the book made me laugh, and all was forgiven.

And now I have a book that Mat wrote for me, and a good story to go with it.

I'm so glad Mat forgot Mother's Day.