Mother's Day Tribute

On Friday morning, during my weekly business meeting, I heard the best advice I have heard in a while about mother's.  It was from a gentleman who lost his mother 20 years ago.  What he said was, "Treat every day like its mother's day."  I couldn't agree more.  How often do we take our mother's for granted?  How often do we fail to realize everything that they do for us?  How often do we thank them for what they do and what they have done?  I think that many people, while appreciating their mothers, also take them for granted a lot of the time.  As a relatively new father on the scene, it is only now that I am truly coming to realize everything that mothers do, starting with pregnancy and never really ending.  Seeing everything that my wife does for our son makes me realize that my mother probably did the same as well as every mother out there.  From the sleepless nights to the breastfeeding to the worrying, it never ends.  Now this isn't meant to anger any fathers out there, but I think that mothers do a lot more in general for their children than fathers do.  A large part of it comes from the fact that mothers carry their children with them for 9 months and then are intimately involved with the raising of their children after birth.  This isn't to say that fathers don't put in a lot of effort, but I think mothers take the ribbon here.  Its the closer personal attachment that drives them to do more, their need to ensure their children are as safe and healthy as possible that makes them who they are.  But it isn't only biological mothers, but it goes beyond to any woman who acts in the capacity of being a mother. 

So what did you do for your mother yesterday to show her how much she means to you?  Our family gathered together, a total of 6 mothers being present in the household, and they did nothing but relax.  The men in our family, meaning my dad, brother and myself, took care of pretty much everything, the main event being a lunch that we cooked up (and didn't completely fail at).  We each had our task for the day, my brother was in charge of the fruit salad for desert, my dad in charge of rice and vegetables, and myself in charge of salad and cooking the chicken.  All in all, the food went over well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  That was our present for the mothers yesterday.  We could have bought them things, which my dad and brother might have (but I didn't), but we felt it was more important to give them a day off to relax and enjoy themselves.  After all, mothers do so much every day of the year, I think they are entitled to at least one day off (although more would definitely be welcome I am sure).  What I was most thankful for yesterday was to have all the mothers we had gathered together.  It is not often that we get that many mothers under one roof and let them do nothing.  I also think that it was probably hard for them not to do anything as mothers have this drive and need it seems to constantly be cleaning, cooking, and making sure that everyone else is happy. 

Of course, the only mother there who I know would have like to just sit in a chair all day by herself was my wife.  It was a little difficult yesterday with our seven month old and grandparents and great grandparents yearning to entertain and coddle him.  My wife even got a little over-stimulated and had to retreat to the outdoors.  As a result of all the stimulation, our son got maybe 45 minutes of napping in yesterday compared to his normal 2.5 to 3 hours.  But he made it through the day without any tantrums of nervous breakdowns so everything was OK.  At least next year our son will be older and better able to handle the overabundance of stimulation that he will undoubtedly receive.  Regardless, it was a beautiful day, perfect weather, and we were surrounded by family, so despite my wife's desire to just sit at home and do nothing, I think she had a decent time yesterday on her first mothers day.  So as we begin another week, let us all try to treat every day like it is mothers day and never let a day go by where we take our mothers for granted.   Life flies by too quickly for us to neglect our mothers.  If you didn't take time out to appreciate your mother yesterday, even if you don't have a good relationship with her, take the time today, give her a call, and just say thank you.  To all the mothers out there, thank you.