Mother’s day is a mixture of emotions for me.
My own mom died nearly sixteen years ago from cancer and I still miss her terribly, more so since my daughter was born, so when Mother’s day comes around it’s always a time of reflection for me.
I can go weeks at a time without really thinking of my mum, but when I do think of her I really do miss her. She was the center of our family, she kept everything together.
I found the first few Mother’s days after she died really tough. You can’t fail to know it’s Mother’s day, it’s advertised everywhere, it’s big business for certain shops on the high street so it’s not like you can forget it’s happening, lots of memories come back and just an overall feeling of sadness that she died so young at 46, thinking of how different things would have been if she’d been alive.
One of the things that saddens me now I’m a parent is that my daughter is missing out on someone who would have been an awesome gran. I was lucky as although my grandads were not around both of my grans were, and we really benefited from having them both around for so many different reasons. Both were very different in their own ways and that was a good thing.
So up until the last couple of years Mother’s day has been a bit of a non event, that was until Jessica came along and all of a sudden Mother’s day had a new meaning. At the moment she’s too young to understand what it means but it’s fun to take her into town and get her to help choose a card for mommy (I try and guess which one I think she likes best) and choosing a present, joking with her that I am keeping track of how much all this is costing and will deduct from her pocket money when she’s older – I’m joking (honest).
My wife is not good at staying in bed or putting her feet up so there is no point in making her breakfast in bed. if I tried she’d appear in the kitchen and start trying to help! So I make sure she gets to relax as much as she’ll let me.
It was fun getting Jessica to give her her presents in the morning and then try and help her open them. It reminded me of when we used to buy mom chocolates and then beg her to open them just so we could eat them all.
Although Mother’s day will always be a time of reflection for me, it is now also one of celebration and that can only be a positive thing.
