Mother's Day

As a mom, I don't understand Mother's Day.

Don't get me wrong, I totally want to celebrate my own mother so I don't think the holiday is a total bust. But this whole idea of celebrating me is preposterous. My own mom is certainly worthy of having a day to herself. Take, for instance, this year. This year she called me up and explained, in no uncertain terms, that I would not be getting her a gift. When I balked she insisted that anything I would have spent be put into the Matthew Fund. I still sent her a very little something and a card, under five dollars total, just to make sure she knows I love her. So yeah, she's worthy of a day to herself.

But me, are you kidding? There are days when motherhood grinds on my every last nerve, sure. But darn it if I'm not head over heels totally crazy in love with my boys. The cute shirt and flowers that my husband sons got me are great, of course. The lunch they took me out to was fantastic even though I insisted that I didn't need anything and could just make myself a sandwich. I very much appreciate their appreciation. But I'm already the luckiest girl alive. I've been given the amazing opportunity to mother my boys. Mine is the name Garrett calls when he's standing in a circle of vomit. And I am the one he shows his prize snail shell to. Mine is the voice Matthew hears when he breaks into a huge grin. I have been blessed. To receive gifts for my role in their life seems, well, almost silly. Truthfully, I want to buy them a pony and thank them for being my greatest joy. If I'd been given a photograph of this family four years ago, my heart would have swelled to epic proportions when I saw that the dream would come true.

So Happy Mother's Day to my own mother who is worthy of honor. Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law who somehow managed to turn her impish little boy into my husband. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who are standing alongside me in the trenches of mommyhood. But, even in those trenches, I don't feel the need for my own self to be honored. I am digging through poop and wading through barf but there is truly no where else I'd rather be.