Mother's Day

There are many times when I end the day particularly exhausted and I think to myself, "My mom is so lucky that she didn't have so many things going on when I was a kid." She never looked exhausted, she never complained, she never got to be sick, she was just simply always a loving, caring mom.

I think, "Well, she didn't work full time." She did.

"Well, she didn't volunteer." She did. A lot.

"Well, she didn't come home from work and have to make dinner and keep the house clean." She did.

"Well, she didn't have to tote us all around creation to our many activities." Of course she did.

"Well, she didn't stay up half the night worrying about us and our well-being." She did.

"Well, she didn't often feel like she had to try hard to maintain friendships that were worth keeping, but hard to squeeze in to her daily life." She always had friends around.

"Well, she certainly didn't spend the few hours per day that she had with us simultaneously trying to discipline us, make us feel important and make us feel loved." Really, she didn't? Of course she did.

"Well, she didn't give up pieces of herself so that there would be more time with us." Are you sure? Didn't she want to be a teacher in her other life?

I often get caught up in how many things I have going on and how many sacrifices I think I make that go unnoticed or unappreciated all for the sake of being a good mom to Riley (and even the dogs). But when I truly think about it, they are not sacrifices at all. They are blessings. And I learned this from my own mom who was the best example I could ever ask for.

I hope someday when Riley is older and reflects on his memories from childhood, he will think of how I taught him to blow his nose "so loudly that Daddy can hear it at work" and how I could "kiss it and make it better" and how he had to "work" by doing chores to earn the things he wanted (like hockey school) and how I used to make brownies for him and his friends just slightly gooey so that they could all eat them directly out of the pan with spoons and how our house was always the one at which everyone wanted to hang out.

I am so thankful to be a mom and so thankful to have a great one of my own.