Belated

The title of this post was supposed to be Mother's Day. In fact, the title WAS Mother's Day when I wrote it last night, but then it disappeared. Poof! Gone. Rather annoying. *sigh*

So here's take two because I think it's worth sharing and, before I forget, Happy (Belated) Mother's Day to all the mommies out there, especially mine! :o) Also, I don't feel too, too bad about posting this post one little day late, as I am well aware that in some countries, Mother's Day was not yesterday, but the Sunday before. (Some countries celebrate Mother's Day on the first Sunday in May.)

I was actually kind of lukewarm about Mother's Day this year. The fact that Daughter informed me that she had forgotten her gift to me at school, when we were already on our way home in the car, on Friday, did not bode well. I didn't dwell on it with her, but I did wonder if she didn't intentionally plan to be gift-wise unprepared for Sunday, considering the friction that exists in our relationship. I wondered, but I did not dwell, as I didn't want to be overly pessimistic. I just figured I'd get my gift on Monday instead of Sunday, and in the end all that does is stretch Mother's Day out just that much longer.

The boys were very excited about Mother's Day. They had both made a little something at school and wanted to give me my presents right away, so I had to explain that Mother's Day was on Sunday and that it would be proper to wait. They took it pretty well. lol Daughter was a different story. On Saturday, she had her cake decorating class, in which she learned to make fondant flowers. She made a whole bunch of tiny flowers and a beautiful, big gerbera daisy. I asked her if she would put them on the Mother's Day cake, and she agreed, though a bit begrudgingly. In the end, she said she didn't feel like baking a cake, so she kept her flowers and I felt pretty dejected. Sadly, I feel that this pretty much sums up our relationship. She wants nothing from me (except to let her go live with her dad) and she has nothing she wants to give me. No fondant flowers. No love.

Sunday morning, First Son disappeared with my sister for a mysterious secret surprise. While he was at her house, Second Son wanted to watch old Tom and Jerry videos on YouTube, so Daughter and I took advantage of our free time to start pricing some items for our upcoming garage sale. Daughter was in a good mood and pretty talkative, so I consider this my Mother's Day present from her.

When First Son came home, (with a lovely bouquet of flowers, I might add), we had lunch and then had his surprise for dessert: a big bowl of fruit salad with apples, pears, grapes, bananas, oranges and lots of lemon juice. It was delicious and healthy and I even had some this morning for breakfast. First Son had a great idea, making me this fruit salad. I love it.

After lunch, it was time for more presents. The boys each presented me with a card they had made. Second Son had even made and decorated the envelope for his. Then, First Son gave me more presents, the first of which made me laugh so hard. It was a Tweety Bird pin that he had asked me to buy him last year. He was re-gifting it! lol The second gift was even stranger, and I did laugh at it, but I may have been angry, had I been in a bad mood. Luckily, this wasn't the case.

The second gift I received from First Son was an old watch face without the watch band. When I asked him where it was from, he said, "I found it on the floor. At the cottage." LOL He meant our friends' cottage, where we had spent the weekend a few weeks ago. The little thief swiped it! :p I did have a good laugh at him, since he was so happy and so honestly, sincerely considered himself innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever, but in the end I told him that we would have to give the watch back. Then, to placate me, although I really wasn't angry with him, just amused, First Son brought out my last presents: two Toblerone bars he had bought with his own money. I love chocolate, so this gift was very thoughtful, although in my head I was thinking I would have a word with my sister about letting First Son buy me chocolate, when she knew I had issues with my weight. Oh, well. The gifts were much appreciated.

After the gift-giving, we took off to McArthur Lanes to meet up with friends for some bowling. I tactfully took one of the Toblerones along to share with everyone. There was one more surprise waiting for me at the bowling alley: my brother's girlfriend gave me a Mother's Day card and a flower to plant in the front yard. It was so unexpected that I was very surprised, and the happy atmosphere, along with having my three kids there having fun bowling with me, finally made it sink in that it was Mother's Day. I think we all had a good time, although I found it hard to bowl because it was the first time I had played 10-pin with the bigger balls. 

So that was my Mother's Day, with its usual ups and downs, as with all parts of my life. I am still looking forward to picking Daughter up from school today to see what she made me, and I will ignore the fact that her teacher made her do it, and concentrate instead of the effort she put into it, knowing it is for me.

I will leave you with a little gift of my own, but, just like First Son, I am re-gifting this. It is actually the Mother's Day post from one of my favorite blogs, cakewrecks. I think Jen and John did a great job in on it: just the right balance of humor and sentimentality, all of it illustrated, of course, with cake. And since it's the Sunday Sweets edition, there are no cake wrecks, just beauties to illustrate what Jen and John are saying about mothers. Enjoy!