monday's mulling: full heart for mother's day

Mother's Day. Many look at it as a Hallmark holiday, and yes, I went out and spent a lot of time looking for cards for my daughter for her first Mother's Day and for my daughter-in-law who celebrated her second. 

My morning started out with T saying he was going to the store to get bagels. A little while later there was a knock-knock-knock at the front door with T delivering a beautiful bouquet of flowers. My sister, sister-in-law, and I sent text messages. My sister was looking after two of her grandsons and my sister-in-law was hiking in Acadia National Park. And then the friends' Mother's Day texts kept the phone jingling all day long. I love to see the cards that the mothers with young children post on their social media showing their children's artwork and sweet words. A teacher friend whose daughter is in 8th grade (ohmygosh...I substituted for her maternity leave when her daughter was born), posted an acrostic Mother's Day poem that her daughter wrote for her. It was beautifully written and brought tears to my eyes. And then the calls from my kids came in. The first call was from my first daughter who was baking some cookies for her sister's first Mother's Day. She and her husband of six months are leaving for their Italian honeymoon on Tuesday. My new mom daughter called and we mostly talked about her son, my little grandson who turned three months old on Mother's Day. He is recovering so well from his heart surgery which was was just two weeks ago. I went to the grocery store and when I parked, the phone rang. It was my son and daughter-in-law and we had a fun 30 minute chat while I sat with the window down on a glorious spring day the parking lot. They were getting ready to take their 2-year old son to the Cleveland Zoo on the Moms-Get-In-Free promotion for Mother's Day. My firstborn called and reminded me that he was skydiving so I drove 30 minutes to Greene County Skydive to watch him and his buddy jump out of an airplane. His buddy's mom was there, too, and we looked at each other and said, "Why not?" She and I didn't take the jump yesterday but we're looking at sometime in June! A Mother's Day dinner at my son's home...steaks on the grill, a tray of roasted veggies, and a fruit salad. My dad always grilled steaks on Sunday, Mom fixed all the sides, and we reminisced about Sunday meals at my parents' dinner table. Memories from the past, the joys of today, and the hopes of the future filled my mom heart.