happy mother's day

One thing I love about Mother's Day is that JD pretends to be more tolerant of all of my 'will you take a picture, please?' or 'could we snap a quick family photo' or 'oh wait, just one more…real quick'.  hehe

I think these little ones of mine are more excited than I am for Mother's Day.  Camilly asked if we could have Mother's Day again on Monday.  I'm not sure why... but I  do like her, and I like her way of thinking.

We played cards all together at breakfast (always a favorite of mine), went to Mass, ate breakfast 'with the locals' (inside joke) at IHop, took our siestas, and loaded up the kayak and some fishing poles to spend the evening at our favorite Newport News Park/lake.

It was perfect.  Even the moment when Maria shooed me back up stairs with a grumpy glare because she had yet to finish working on my Mother's Day card!  I had to loiter upstairs for a good 15 minutes before Dada convinced her to work on the card throughout the day and give it to me later.  (It was a detailed masterpiece of Littlest Pet Shop characters.  She had been working on it since Thursday!)

               

 

A week or so before Mother's Day, I learned of the story of Ryan Saldana.  His little red curly head hovered over my heart on Sunday.  I couldn't help but to pray for all those mamas whose hearts are filled with sorrow, perhaps more so on Mother's Day… those whose little ones are not there to give them squishy faced kisses or need to be carried after a scraped knee.  Which also led me to think of all those 'little people' who don't have a mom to make cards for or send flowers to or call up and chat.

I share this to remember to 'squeeze' those we love a little extra each day… to remember to be mindful and compassionate to those whose circumstances are a bit different than our own… to remember that all we have is a gift, the good and the bad.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, who inspires me by her example to always give just a little bit more.  And Happy Mother's Day to so many many beautiful women/friends/Army sisters/cousins, who are all part of this 'tribe' called motherhood!

And since I love a good comparison of photos and memories here's last year.