Monday, May 12, 2014
So Much to Celebrate......So Little Time
Well, what a busy, busy weekend it was! I wanted to post last night, but my head was throbbing with the worst kind of headache and that is all that I could think of when I sat down to write, so I spared you a post about headaches and their frequent companion, nausea.
With my birthday being on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday, the weekend was brimming with doting that was aimed in my direction. I enjoy doting.....especially when I am on the receiving end. This back to back timing of all of my special days allows my family to pay me a little attention for one weekend and then be back on their merry way for the rest of the year. I try to stretch it as long as I can and squeeze every drop of good out of it as possible as Monday would bring toilets to clean and chicken breasts to get creative with.
We began celebrating Friday night by enjoying a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant. They send out $12 birthday coupons, so Davis, the saver of money, is all about that. Every year, he is careful to stick the restaurant's money saving document in his wallet in an effort to knock my filet mignon back down into the chicken price range. I get my beef and Davis gets his poultry prices. It's a win win for everyone. Blair enjoys any occasion that calls for dressing up and eating food that doesn't normally make our grocery list. She's fancy like that. Carson, however, would have preferred ripping meat from the bone with his teeth at the paper napkin establishment, Buffalo Wild Wings, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but it wasn't his birthday. We'll do that in June.
With my birthday being on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday, the weekend was brimming with doting that was aimed in my direction. I enjoy doting.....especially when I am on the receiving end. This back to back timing of all of my special days allows my family to pay me a little attention for one weekend and then be back on their merry way for the rest of the year. I try to stretch it as long as I can and squeeze every drop of good out of it as possible as Monday would bring toilets to clean and chicken breasts to get creative with.
We began celebrating Friday night by enjoying a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant. They send out $12 birthday coupons, so Davis, the saver of money, is all about that. Every year, he is careful to stick the restaurant's money saving document in his wallet in an effort to knock my filet mignon back down into the chicken price range. I get my beef and Davis gets his poultry prices. It's a win win for everyone. Blair enjoys any occasion that calls for dressing up and eating food that doesn't normally make our grocery list. She's fancy like that. Carson, however, would have preferred ripping meat from the bone with his teeth at the paper napkin establishment, Buffalo Wild Wings, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but it wasn't his birthday. We'll do that in June.
After cake and ice cream, I wanted to run into TJ Maxx for a minute while we were out and about. My attention was quickly drawn to a man on his cell phone, who was standing in the middle of the ladies' section. His volume made him hard to ignore and it quickly became apparent that he was talking Mother's Day business. The one side of the conversation that all of the store's customers were hearing was.....
"Hey Daddy, does Mama wear a medium or a large? Oh, ok...you sure? Ok....all right. Bye."
Hanging up the phone, he yells over five or six racks to his shopping companion, "Daddy said Mama wears a large!!" I thought, "Poor Mama is probably home doing dishes, oblivious to the fact that her sizes are being broadcasted up in the TJ Maxx." From the looks of him, his head was most likely the size of a basketball when he was born, so whatever Mama wears.....he is probably mostly to blame. I'm sure, though, that the blouse he selected as her gift, more than makes up for her widened hips that will never go back like they were and the closet full of "Smalls" that she hasn't been able to wear since 1972 due to the passage of his big head through her loins. Usually, when basketballs go through small structures, the structure is forever altered.
Saturday morning found me sleeping in as that is my favorite thing to do and I feel that, on your birthday, you should be able to do your favorite thing. I woke up at 9:40 to a warm, delicious cream cheesy Danishy type dish and a coconut cream pie brought to me by a friend, who is known for her aptitude in the kitchen, so her goodies are always a treat.
Along with other sweet gifts I received, we purchased a new sofa, which will be delivered tomorrow and then we went sunglasses shopping. I've been wanting new sunglasses, but wasn't sure what kind. I settled on the Ray Ban Wayfarers and I must say that I am now cool well beneath my years. I am happy to report that not one of my gifts came from the Cracker Barrel this year. This gives me hope that, perhaps, we have turned a corner on this. I'm sure, though, that Davis' absence has been felt there this month and will be reflected in the May sales report. I got my chips and salsa fix at lunch and then we headed to the lake to meet up with my family to celebrate my angel of a mother.
After church yesterday, we went to spend time with my sweet mother-in-law and in all the hustle, I forgot my camera, so there is no documentation of that. With Davis' gift giving challenges, I'd been out earlier in the week to try and find the perfect gift for his mother.....one that would say, "Mom, I cared enough to send my wife out to buy you something nice and I'll be just as surprised as you are when you open it, but notice that I did sign my own name to the card that she picked out and laid out on the table in front of me along with a pen." Nothing warms a mother's heart like a gift like that.
Trying to relieve my headache last night, I stretched out on my bed with a cold compress, but couldn't help but hear the kids in the kitchen digging in the remnants of my cake.....sounded like a couple of big rats in a cardboard box. Carson came into my bedroom, where I was lying in my sick bed, holding the cake box with colorful icing hanging from his braces, "Mom, do you want your last piece of cake?" "No", I groaned as I fought back the nausea and my weary pancreas worked to break down the Baskin Robbins, cookie cake, cream cheese Danish, coconut pie, homemade ice cream, and sugar cookies that I'd eaten in the last 48 hours. It was official......my special days were over and I had, what you might call, a celebratory hangover.
Birthdays are fun, but motherhood is not for the faint of heart. The moment you become one, you multiply your joys, but at the same time, increase your prospects for heartache. Never am I as happy as when Blair is excited about good news and never am I as low as when Carson's heartbroken or disappointed. To become a mother means that you've opened yourself up to new possibilities......some indescribably good and some unimaginably bad. It means being uneasy until she calls and says she made it safely. It means being nervous when he's trying something new and unsettling for him. It, sometimes, means having butterflies, insomnia, and second guesses. Their tears will always prompt your tears and their happiness will always contribute to your happiness as long as God gives you breath.
No matter if you have biological children, adopted children, foster children, nieces and nephews, godchildren, four legged children, children in your classroom, children who you mentor, children who you teach at church, or good friends' children who adore you.......most all of us, women, are mother figures to somebody. I hope those somebodies showed you how much you're loved this weekend!
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Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day! Sounds like a great weekend with lots of good food! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I had a great weekend for sure :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! It was a fabulous weekend!
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Oh my goodness Joni, you are hilarious. Your post cracked me up. I about lost it when you started talking about the man in TJ Maxx. I'm glad you have lots of fun celebrating with your family.
ReplyDelete