Happy Mother's Day

Ah, mother's day. I remember mother's day as a little kid. Mom drove us to Eckerd's and gave us a few dollars for us to buy her a present. I think I bought her some ugly paperweight thing with a red, fake plastic plant in the middle. She loved it, of course. I think maybe some other time we made her breakfast in bed. After that, we always went out to eat for the day.

Over the years, the holiday evolved into more of a "kind of forget about it until your brother calls and reminds you to call mom, and you feel guilty" type of day. I love you mom, and I'll never forget that you brought me into this world. I'll never forget that you bought me my first car (a 1981 Isuzu I-Mark, white with red interior). 

Well, this year took on extra special significance. It is Shannon's first mother's day, so the pressure was on to do something special. We had a pretty nice day. It started with our friends Clay and Sarah coming to town with their precious little dude, Austin. Austin and Michael are pseudo-cousins, and we love for them to spend time together. We had some good food at Phil's Icehouse and we made a shopping pilgrimage to the flagship Whole Foods Market downtown. It was a good day. 

Mikey's 4th tooth made a sudden experience on Mother's Day. It broke through and caused our little guy a lot of pain and suffering. Shannon flexed her mommy-cred by keeping Michael happy through a tough day of teething. all in a day's work.

I learned several things for this Mother's day. First of all, I shall never again attempt to buy a Mother's Day card on the actual day. When I arrived at the store, the card section was a picked over and a crowd of dufuses like me was hovering over the terrible remnants. The remaining cards were beyond the bottom of the barrel. I was eying one, "Dear mom. We're sorry we put you in that home, but you know we love you, right? We'll try to visit you next year." Unfortunately, some other husband with a desperate, hunted look on his face snagged it. I left the store empty-handed. Hallmark would get no profits from me this year. My kindness and affection would be all the greeting card that Shannon would need (hopefully).

The other thing I learned is that the affection and gratitude toward moms does not have to be confined to just one day. It's a tough job, and I think every day should be a mother's day of sorts. To all the moms in my life, I love y'all and I hope you had a great day.