Andrew had been working hard for a few weeks to come up with something appropriate for the occasion. I hadn't made any formal requests since there wasn't anything that I had to absolutely.have.now. My techie husband shows his love through gadgets. I treasure that about him. In fact, the very first present he ever gave me were a pair of ear phones for my annual trip to San Francisco. I had lost mine and hated the Apple ones that came with my, then, iPod Mini (gads! Look how huge that thing is! It's practically the Zach Morris phone of MP3 players.)
I've grown to love gadgetry and all its glory, and more than that I completely appreciate how excited my husband gets when I ask him, "Can you tell me about [insert name of something techy here]?" The Saturday before Mother's Day, we had date night and I was presented with this fabulous toy, the iPhone 4 (by the way, that Speck case is turquoise and hot pink and MY husband picked it out!) It's a toy and a tool all wrapped in one and I love it.
*Yes, that's him holding the sandwich. Isn't he adorable!?*
The second part of this story is how much I love being a mother and what that means around Mother's Day. It means handmade gifts from my children.
Growing up, my sister and I were the princesses of craft and handmade gifts (what a surprise, huh?) We made picture frames, hand print butterflies, coupon books for my mom, which usually had offers for "Good for ONE free hug & kiss" or "Good for ONE emptying of the dishwasher without complaint." My mother loves these presents. She cherished them and until Ben started going to preschool and making gifts for me, I didn't really understand.
I do now. Last year, I received a lovely card with his hand print in the middle of a paper heart. Along with the card came a laminated book mark with an original Jackson Pollack-esque drawing on bright white copy paper with the finest Crayola markers (tee hee!) I love, love, love that book mark. I love it so much that when I accidentally let it slip between my seat and the bulk head on a flight back from Toronto, I was frantic. I waited anxiously until we landed so I good squeeze my zaftig self between my seat and the one in front of me and rescue my precious bookmark. At that moment is when I got how my mother felt all those years.
This year, Ben presented me with a bird house. He chose lovely shades of red-orange, blue, and green. He layered the paint on thickly so that it wouldn't ever come off, he said. He gave it to me at a little reception called "Morning Muffins with Mommy." As soon as we got home, he made me put it in the try right away. And here it is. My lovely bird house, hanging in our back yard on a rainy morning.
I can't say if I love one gift more than that other, but I think that if something were to happen to my birdhouse, I might actually cry a little.
To all the mothers who read this blog, I hope it was a wonderful day for you and every day you spend with your children you remember how loved you are by those wonderful little people.
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