Sunday 11 May 2014

Happy-ish Mother's Day

Today was a mixed bag. Not only is it the first Mother's Day without my mom, but it is also one month from the day that she died. All in all, that makes for a pretty emotionally loaded day. The days leading up to today were noticeably harder for me. Grief exhaustion has officially set in as of Friday. Maybe with Mother's Day behind us it will be better next week (I can only hope). It probably didn't help matters that this week was "survivor week" at Tommy's school, you know the week when you desperately try to survive without giving the kids any screen time on any device. Even though we usually have very limited screen time, it was tough to make it without any at all (but we did!). Dinner making was much more chaotic than usual, so I will be very thankful to turn the TV back on tomorrow evening and cook in peace.

Back to today. I miss my mom. I hate not being able to call her and tell her what a great mom she was. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to tell her how much I appreciated her and to admit to her that parenting is A LOT harder than it looks. Having kids certainly has made me much more understanding of my mom's mistakes, and much more thankful for her sacrifices.

Today had lots of happy mixed in too. I had breakfast in bed (prepared by Jeff, precariously carried by the boys), and received many beautiful works of art from the kids, including one that was wrapped in home designed paper that featured a bleeding dog. Ah, boys. Honestly, I'm just glad the bleeding dog wasn't pooping too.

They also got me a year of education for a child in Uganda (if you were thinking maybe you wanted one of those too, go to a-childs-voice.org and hook yourself up), dressed up nicely for church, let me nap in the afternoon, and left me alone so I could paint my toes. We had a nice dinner that I didn't cook, and spent the evening playing games. As you can see, that all adds up to a great day.

Some pictures, which include for those of you who have asked (I listen!) a picture of the front of our house. I wish the cars weren't in the driveway because then you could see the side planter with my daffodils, but Jeff was doing handy man things in the garage this weekend and needed the space I usually park in. I guess you can consider it a bonus shot of my sweet mom-ride.




3 comments:

Heather said...

I'm glad there were some happy moments.

Bill E said...

As always, Amy, you share from the heart and live in the moment. That first Mother's Day is always so hard, especially so close in time. I'm glad you talked about it. The celebration of your Mom's life has passed. Her legacy is with you and all who loved herevery day. I hope you continue to talk to her, because I believe the Lord makes a way that she can listen to all that is important. Love is forever. Grace, peace and love to you all.

Willydee said...

Thank Amy, for sharing your journey. I enjoyed seeing the pictures of you and the boys.