<p>We celebrated yesterday as my son was flying out at 6a.m. to California for a job try. Husband cooked a delicious Steak, Baked potatoes, asparagus, corn on the cob dinner. Roses from my daughter. Son left a card with a recorded message for me to find this morning. Best gift is him arriving safely in CA though unfortunately sans his new cell phone which he lost between here and there. Just hoping one (or more) of the 3 job possibilities he is traveling to (as far South (last week), West (this week), then East (next week) as you can go from where we live) results in a job offer before the poor boy goes completely broke!</p>
<p>DD (and because of CC, she signs her e-mails DD) is in study abroad, planned ahead and ordered truffles which came Friday. And she skyped with me today (while e-mailing a friend back at school) DH sent flowers - the card however got mixed up and read “Thinking of You” (no name- no mention of Mother’s Day) I asked him whom I should thank, not knowing if it was one of the kids or a secret admirer. DS and GF (and their dog) sent Edible Arrangement with pineapple heart and chocolate covered strawberries. Since dh is operating today neighbor and I celebrated by spraying the honeysuckle and other weeds in he overgrown azaleas between our houses.</p>
<p>Happy mothers day to all the moms out there.</p>
<p>Ex-H gets credit today. D2 is with him this weekend, but he called before she was even up this morning to see if I wanted to do something with her (even though it is his weekend). I said thanks, but we had already planned to celebrate in a couple of weeks when D1 gets home from college. But it was nice that he thought of it and asked. Then he had D2 phone me later. And D1 just wished me HMD via Facebook chat 
So I’m all good. I just like it if they remember.</p>
<p>Can’t call my mom today, Dad dragged her up to the cabin at the last minute where there is no phone. But I talked to her yesterday, went in on a joint gift with my sib, and sent her a card.</p>
<p>I found some of those homemade coupons from D1 from many years ago recently. “Wach <intd2>” (for babysitting her little sister), “Cleen rum”. I am going to redeem that 2nd one this summer when she least expects it :)</intd2></p>
<p>My husband got a lot of perfect husband points today. He arranged for both kids to come and have breakfast with us, then all three of them cleaned up afterwards. My treat was that I got to make my favorite breakfast for all of us… waffles, bacon, maple syrup, raspberry smoothies. What a luxury!</p>
<p>And then they all left (after real hugs) and I am alone to putter around the house doing nothing for a few hours. Another luxury!</p>
<p>that will teach her to ALWAYS include an expiration date!</p>
<p>H made sure I had a nice day…went to the local botanical gardens and had a lovely breakfast there. What a great way to spend a few hours. Got a beautiful card thanking me for being a great mom to his kids and some really nice flowers. I’m happy. Even a niece of mine texted me today which was quite a surprise.</p>
<p>Both kids are far from home, but D called later and apologized for the card/small gift that were coming but will be late. S, however, is hiking the 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail and I’m not expecting to hear anything from him! Doubtful he’ll even know what day of the week it is, let alone that Mother’s Day is happening…</p>
<p>I think it IS the role of the dad to remind kids to be thoughtful for mother’s day and vice versa. Eventually those habits will set in on their own, but in the meantime, I do believe it’s the parent’s responsibility to mirror the kind of behavior we’d like to see. I ALWAYS remind the kids of H’s birthday and Father’s Day at least a week in advance. It seems to help. I would feel really bad for H if the kids didn’t acknowledge those days. He’d act like it doesn’t matter, but I know better.</p>
<p>Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!</p>
<p>PS I just read today about the “tradition” of wearing white flowers if your mother is gone and red ones if they’re still alive. I’d never heard of that. Is that a tradition in your area?</p>
<p>My D sent me a huge bouquet of lovely pink lilies yesterday–good. But I’m allergic to flowers, especially lilies–bad. I put them in an antique watering can out on the front porch and they look very nice there.</p>
<p>My older stepson and his sweet wife sent me a pretty arrangement of pink flowers, as they know that’s my favorite color. (Nothing from younger stepson and his wife.)</p>
<p>My H took me to my favorite Mexican restaurant last night for dinner and brought me the newspaper and breakfast in bed today.</p>
<p>Its been a great day. Both kids are here. S squeezed a trip home between exams and graduation. Even better, when we went out to lunch today, he came downstairs in nice khakis, an ironed shirt, and real shoes…a far cry from his faded jeans, vintage t shirt, and flip flops. I almost fell over when I saw him. Also, both kids had roses sent to both me and my mom (their grandmother). This was not prompted by H either. I am one lucky and grateful mom.</p>
<p>Is it just me or is this a tough day to get thru? Guess I’m not a Hallmark type person. Always wake up in a foul mood and when they treat me like a queen I just think of all the myriad ways I’ve screwed up at the whole mothering thing. Am always so glad when Mother’s Day is over. </p>
<p>For the record, I got pink roses with little dark pink sweethearts in a cut glass vase with a tinge of pink. It is really adorable and very . . . pink! Also got the latest Elizabeth George book and several others - a book of Ann Sexton poetry (my DD had something to do with that, I think). Then they set out to make a beautiful breakfast but DD is studying for APs and writing two papers and DH had to fly out later that afternoon and I couldn’t bear to watch them stress over the pancakes, sausage, etc. and ended up pretty much doing my usual thing. Then the long wait to see if 20-year-old Neanderthal son at college would register that it is Mother’s Day - and low and behold - a text message this afternoon: Hapy Mothers Dy! Yes, oh, yes this eloquent missive from my Ivy boy!</p>
<p>Tonight . . . I am cooking. It was either that or pizza delivery because DH is headed for airport and DD is tearing her hair out over the second paper.</p>
<p>Oh my, will be so glad for tomorrow and the stress of Mother’s Day is over for 365 days.</p>
<p>The one really terrific note - my dear 84-year-old mom LOVED her flowers. LOVED them. Has called me four times now to say how much. Of course, we send her flowers several times a year and have been doing so for many years . . . but she forgets and it is like the first time. </p>
<p>Maybe that’s when I’ll enjoy Mother’s Day . . . when I’m in the throes of early dementia?</p>
<p>Well…I tend to have very low expectations. The last several Mother’s Day’s have not been good. At least with only one child home, they didn’t fight this year!</p>
<p>I am lucky enough to still have my own sweet Mom, who is one of my favorite people. I sent her flowers and called her.</p>
<p>Chateu St Michelle 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is pretty good. The winery grounds are perfectly groomed, and the cloudless blue sky is definitely a nice touch to the lovely picnic h and I are having right now. Surely beats yardwork ;)</p>
<p>Happy Mother’s Day to all CC mom!</p>
<p>Had my mother (and dad) over for brunch.</p>
<p>Earlier in the week, I took her to talbots to look for some new tops. One of mom’s favorite things to do is to shop at Talbots. It is a smaller shop, the women are wonderful to her, and they have things in petite size 2. I boss her around, make her try on lots of things, and she is as happy as can be.</p>
<p>I told her dad gave me money for her to buy some things, so I didn’t want to hear any arguments. I had $50 in coupons, so I was able to put together a really nice outfit in the amount of money she thought she had to spend. Of course their were items she didn’t purchase, but I bought some things to go with what she purchased so she will have additional outfits.</p>
<p>While we were out shopping she told me that now that she and dad moved to the retirement home, she is never alone.</p>
<p>She also said that sometimes dad goes out and another man watches her.</p>
<p>My heart was just breaking. Dad has told me that occasionally she doesn’t recognize him. He has been really sick this past year, and his appearance has changed greatly. But, I know that this is a more serious sign of her increasing dementia.</p>
<p>So, today was a wonderful day. She was thrilled with breakfast, felt pampered and loved. I will treasure this moment, knowing each day that she is truly with me is so precious.</p>
<p>worknprogress, you are a wonderful loving D and your parents are blessed to have you in their lives!</p>
<p>Today was very low key and I loved it that way. It’s been so hectic lately and we’ve haven’t been home a lot so having Sunday to relax was great. DH cooked breakfast and the kids washed and vacuumed all 4 cars - without whining, I might add!</p>
<p>Sewhappy–if your kids want to spend Mother’s Day with you–you’ve succeeded as a parent. Seriously. Of course we all worry about the mistakes we’ve made, too, but it sounds to me like your successes more than outweigh those!</p>
<p>Thanks, dmd77, your kind post makes me feel better.</p>
<p>Bunsen,</p>
<p>My mom is sort of in and out, as well. Also loves to shop clothes and get her hair done and go to the drug store and buy Oil of Olay every day if we’d let her. She is such a sweetie - but not sure how we’re going to handle this as my dad grows more fragile.</p>
<p>worknprogress, your post was very touching. It’s wonderful that you cherish your time together.</p>
<p>Part of the sermon in church today was about Alzheimer’s. It made my cry… my own parents show no signs, but my beloved only aunt has it. She does still recognize most of her family and me, or did last time I saw her in the fall, so that is something to be thankful for. D1 attends college right near her home, so we will stop by in a couple of weeks when I pick D up.</p>
<p>Workinprogress,
What a mitzvah you do for your mom.</p>
<p>As someone who lost both parents (my mom abruptly, dad had a stroke when she died), enjoy the times together.</p>
<p>PS–I like pink roses, or peace, peach–anything but red ( I hate cliches). I love real plants. when I was younger, I use to send my mom a different rose bush from Harry & David every year. The path to our house was lined with roses.</p>
<p>Received a dozen gorgeous red roses from daughter at school >1500 miles away!<br>
Now I feel really guilty about yelling at her two days ago for driving around late at night with a dead cell phone…</p>
<p>I learned long ago that the mother’s day outing to the art museum with the boys just wasn’t happening. So we did our usual. Mom and Dad went out to a nice meal earlier in the weekend. (We usually do Saturday lunch, but this year we did Friday dinner.) DH always has flowers and usually has a card with pictures of the boys made on the computer. I long ago said I hated breakfast in bed so they don’t do that. Sunday is the usual gym day and we went as usual. One of my favorite Moms (PTA co-pres with me years ago) was there, so we chatted for an hour on the elliptical (twice as long as my usual time!) Went shopping for groceries on the way home and picked up some pretty good mousse cakes from the new grocery store. Did a little gardening. DH cooked artichokes and made hollandaise sauce and warmed up leftovers (fish stew) and then we had the yummy desserts. Oh and there was a gift certificate for a massage. No complaints here!</p>