My first Mother’s Day was not at all how I pictured it. I expected my husband to make me breakfast in bed, handle all the diaper changes and buy me something pretty. Instead, I was hauling boxes, cleaning and sleeping on a mattress on my parents’ living room floor.
After some change in dates and complications, we found out we were closing the sale of our house on the Friday after Mother’s Day. We intended to stay in the house after the sale and clear out within a month or so, but some complications with that plan forced us to step-up our move a weekend and move in with our parents until we could close on the new house. After a full Saturday of moving our belongings out of our house, we had to return to the old house to clean out some leftover items and get the house in ship-shape for the new owners. It was rainy and cold and just not a pleasant day.
I was tired. I was sore. Oh, and I had a sixth-month-old with an ear infection. It was really a fun time. Or not. Mostly not. My husband was just as exhausted, dirty from moving our garage belongings and not happy about sleeping on the floor of his in-laws living room with all of our belongings stored in every free inch of their house.
The best part of the day, however, was when we got home and I was stretched out on our mattress with my little girl playing next to me. My dad was watching us from the other side of the room. He said “You really ought to thank your mommy for all of her hard work today. She’s spent her first Mother’s Day moving your stuff here so you can move into your new house.” I had sort of forgotten it was Mother’s Day until that moment. It was my first one and I had forgotten and I spent the entire day away from my child.
Now, I look at every Mother’s Day as an opportunity to spend the day with my children and my husband, lapping up the family time that we rarely get. Since that awful first one, we have spent our Mother’s Days doing this like going to Holland, Mich., checking out tulips and at the zoo followed by a nice family dinner.
What made that first Mother’s Day special was that my dad remembered. It’s so weird to think of myself as a parent around my parents, because I’m still their kid, but they see me as a parent.
And as a mom, now I realize how tough the job is and how demanding kids can be. I use Mother’s Day not just as an opportunity to let my husband handle the diapers and snotty noses, but also as a time to say “great job” to all the moms around me. Whether they are older with grown children, or celebrating their first one just weeks after their baby way born, it’s important to support other mothers and encourage them to keep on doing their best.
Tiny Prints can help you do this. They have all sorts of cards for your Mother’s Day needs. Maybe it’s for your own mother, a mother-in-law, someone who has acted as a mother-figure in your life, mother friends or even moms-to-be, whatever you need, Tiny Prints has the Mother’s Day card mother-load.
Disclaimer: I was compensated for this post by Tiny Prints, however, the story of my first Mother’s Day, my subsequent Mother’s Days and my well-wishes to all the mothers in my life are all my own!
