Mother's Day 2004

This year Mother's Day was spent away form the kids. We love our kids, but the day before we had all exchanged cards and gifts. Being an efficient family, and my wife being the practical matriarch she is, we combined some birthdays with Mothers' day celebrations.

This happens alot in our family. The mother of two of our grandchildren, Kaleb and Codey, hails from an enormous family. They celebrate absolutely everything. If a second cousin twice removed gets a new pair of trousers, they'll have an elaborate catered affair where anyone who has ever laid eyes on the family is in attendance.

It's all very sweet, but if the purchase of a pair of trousers leads to this much attention, imagine what an event like Thanksgiving will yeild. Several years of watching a bedraggled Jessie arrive at our house for a holiday with children in tow, realizing that she had disappointed her family by leaving, my wife determined that it was better to have Thanksgiving on an off day and have her entire family together all day than to have half the family struggling around to make appearances at conflicting events.

This is the customary level of sensibility I have come to depend upon from my wife. She is thoughtful and practical. She never forgets a birthday or anniversary, but isn't so hung up on a particular day that the world screeches to a halt if a remembrance must needs be advanced or deferred.

An added bonus to this flexibility is that we often have an entire day to ourselves. Our Mother's Day obligations consummated the day before, we wound our way to Borders books, where Gemey and I spent an hour or two looking at books and sipping coffee.

My wife loves books, although she is often too busy to spend the kind of time she would like doing recreational reading. She reads a great deal of literature to build her faith, but she loves a good historical novel. What might she spend her gift card on? She picked up Karen Hughes' Ten Minutes from Normal and expressed her interest. Alas, it was more expensive than what it could be had for at Costco, even with my discount coupon.

She found a colorful book on collectibles in the bargain bin, a place I like to peruse. I "helped" her shop until she politely reminded me that I didn't have to just stay with her. I meandered my way to the cartoon book section, and read one of Darby's Get Fuzzy collections.

Schlepping the books out, I asked what she got, having not paid much attention when checking out. The collectibles book already mentioned, two children's books to be given on birthdays or other like event, a quilting book for our friend Bonnie, and a novel. On mother's day, my wife, the consummate mother, spent much of her gift getting gifts for others. There isn't much more of a metaphor for motherhood than that one.

Tim McNabb