Celebrating Mother's Day

I watch the commercials on TV about all the wonderful gifts that you should give your mom for Mother's Day and it makes me uneasy for lots of reasons. 

I remember giving my mom some homemade trinket we made in school as a gift for Mother's Day.  My dad usually got her some type of useful appliance.  She got her geranium at church later that day.  That was it.  When I got older, and we weren't able to have children, I hated Mother's Day.  I didn't want the stupid flower at church that they insisted on giving to everyone and I eventually stopped going to church on Mother's Day.  It was just too painful.

Finally, I was blessed to become a mother.  Now I could go to church and accept my flower because I was a mother.  Only, it didn't really feel any different.  My gift was my baby.  I didn't really want anything else.  I loved being a mother and finally having that blessing in my life.

As my kids got older, that's when the guilt set in.  I would sit in church and listen to talks about the perfect mother, and I was so far away from that.  I would sink in my seat as I listened to a talk from someone who bragged about a mother that never yelled at them or never raised her voice in anger.  She loved to do crafts and kept a perfect house.  If that is a perfect mother, that certainly wasn't me.  Then I would dutifully stand and accept my flower and go home depressed about my short comings.

Being a mother is HARD work.  I make mistakes all the time.  So many things I wish I could do over again.  So many things I wish I could take back.  But it's also a very rewarding and fulfilling thing to me.  If I'm going to take responsibility for their failures, I should accept congratulations for their successes as well.  In spite of it all, my kids are turning out OK so far. 

I don't need an expensive pieces of jewelry, a massage, or a spa treatment to thank me.  I get my thanks from a hug, a word of appreciation, or a sweet conversation (and from doing something without being asked.)  I feel uncomfortable getting gifts for doing something I love to do.  So this Mother's Day, I'm hoping for kids that won't fight, and an enjoyable day with my family.  What better gift could I possibly get?