I just read an entry Tina made called Mother’s Day Reflections. Go read it; it’s certain to be more interesting and original that this reponse to it. You should know that she wrote it on the evening before Mother’s Day; I’m writing this late Mother’s Day night.

Tina was right: for us this Mother’s Day was just as packed full of stuff as any other Sunday. I did try to be sweet in the typical Mother’s Day fashion: by getting up early to make her a hot breakfast and by buying her flowers.

But I didn’t do a very good job as typical mother’s days go: I didn’t get a card for her. (In a way I want to get defensive and say that cards are only for people who want credit for remembering the holiday but who don’t get up early to make breakfast or didn’t think far enough ahead to send flowers. However, it is a traditional thing to do and I didn’t do it.) I was feeling pretty bad about that. How can you mess up a little thing like getting a card? It doesn’t mean much unless something more meaningful is placed behind it, but it’s tradition, so why didn’t I somehow find a way to get her one?

Now that I’ve read Tina’s Mother’s Day Reflections I think that my worrying over not coming through with what’s traditional misses the mark. I’ve been fussing over celebrating one side of Tina (her motherhood) in some very traditional (uncreative) ways. But if I were to make a guess, she doesn’t want to be left alone to sleep in: she wants to be woken early and driven to the beach. We’ve had a lot of fun in the past walking down the main streets of small sea-side towns.

Guessing again, I doubt that she wants me to take Cora to the park for the afternoon so that mommy can have a few hours to herself. Instead, we need to go to the local recreation center that has the halfpipes and grind rails. Let mommy get out her old skateboard (and a lot of extra pads, please!) and show Cora what made her feel alive when she was a kid.

Finally, instead of taking mom out to dinner so that she can escape her cooking and cleaning chores for one special night, we should have thrown the biggest community cookout of the year. We have neighbors on the front, back, and sides that we barely know. Tina would have loved meeting them and playing host with some shish kebabs and a tub full of home made ice cream.

What do you think about any of those ideas for next year, hon?