by Cathy
Aaaahhhh, Mother's Day.
This holiday is by no means excluded from the expectations of every other holiday - that things will go swimmingly, that there will be no disappointments, fights or general not-getting-alongness. But these expectations are once again proven to have been set too high when reality kicks in.
I was looking forward to a wondrous Mother's Day, alone with my two beautiful girls since Joe was out of town. The plan was to get up, make them pancakes, spend some quality time, then go see my own mother and have my sister (a recent first-time mommy) meet us there with her new bundle of joy.
After we had pancakes, shared some laughs and all of my gifts had been presented, opened and appreciated via the usual slew of hugs and kisses, my kids set out to do their own thing while I took care of some things before we set out to grandma's house. Of course, whenever my two kids are put in the same room together without a game plan and are left to their own devices, fights will ensue, voices will be raised, tattling will be dished and an overall uneasiness will take over the moment. I could deal with all of that. But what I didn't expect, on this glorious Mother's Day, a day of "rest" and "relaxation" and "pampering" and "free time" and "my day" celebrations, was the following:
- Bella running into the kitchen, panting, holding half a broken light bulb (you know, the new ones that are supposedly toxic if broken) and apologizing profusely. Then, an "Owwwwww!" from Ari, who apparently had stepped on one of the million pieces shattered onto the carpet in their room from the broken bulb - the other half of which was still stuck inside Bella's desk lamp. Apparently, the bouncy ball (which is the size of the moon) she was volleying around the room, bounced off the desk lamp, infracting the bulb and sending the series of events into motion. It also set me into motion:
"Why can't you guys just sit still?"
"I told you no ball playing in your room!"
"Can't you just sit down and read a book?"
"This is suppose to be MY day! Now I have to do this!"
Out came the vacuum. I swept their entire room, hearing the crunching of the glass being sucked into the Hoover. Since I was on a roll, what the heck!?! I did the runners in the hallway and my bedroom, cussing under my breath the whole time, while Bella was sulking in the living room and Ari was crying at the little pin-sized cut on her foot.
- If that wasn't enough, somehow Bella managed to spill Liquid Paper on the cozy, plum-colored fabric chair in her room. Walking past and catching her scrubbing her little heart away in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation with me, I noticed her efforts were futile. I attempted more of the same fruitless scrubbing, but to no avail. Now there were three large splatters of white Liquid Paper front and center on her chair.
"Just cover it up!" said Ari, honing her resourceful skills at the ripe age of five.
"I don't understand why this is all happening today! Today of all days! I've told you many times to be careful about your stuff! This all costs money and we can't replace things that easily and besides, you need to start learning to appreciate and take better care of your things!" More sulking followed.
- Then Ari wanted to play with Bella and in order to get her attention, she decided to come running into the room and whack her with the dress she just took off. The only problem (the only?) was that a button on the dress ended up hitting Bella in the eye, causing her to break down into tears and Ari to get a reprimanding from me. Yet more crying.
- If all this wasn't enough? I cracked my back tooth. While eating a Snickers mini. Serves me right. I had to endure almost two days of that jagged edge cutting into the inside of my cheek until I got to the dentist, who told me I now need a crown that apparently will cost a bazillion dollars. F.M.L.
However, despite all of these extraordinary, unpleasant events, I thoroughly enjoyed the best parts of my day which outnumbered and outweighed the bad overall:
- I received a homemade scrapbook from Bella filled with pictures of the two of us.
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| Isn't it cute that Bella purposely spells 'Mommy' like she did when she was four? |
- I got a beautiful silver pendant that said MOM with a tiny flower and diamond. I added it to my charm bracelet.
- I got a paper mache flower pot complete with homemade flowers made out of construction paper.
- I received several homemade notes and cards.
- I was attributed not one but TWO window drawings wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.
- I got to read each of them a book at bedtime.
- And I got plenty of sweet hugs and kisses and cuddles as they slept in my king sized bed that night.
In short, my day was filled with memorable ups and annoying downs.
A pretty fitting tribute to motherhood in general, wouldn't you say?
