Mother's Day 2013

Even though it is Mother's Day, my day was not much different from any ordinary Sunday.  It started out with my being woken up by Rex who was crawling all over me at 6:00 am when I'd had six hours of sleep, looking me into the one eye I had so painstakingly peeled open to greet him, and then deciding I was not what he wanted.

My day was filled with the routine work of mothers: laundry, vacuuming, kissing boo-boos, cleaning, preparing meals, etc.  For dinner I made a favorite soup, potage crecy.  I've altered the recipe to be dairy free, using olive oil instead of butter and omitting the cream.  I also add a few tablespoons of parsley and mash rather than puree before serving.  It was such a nice Mother's Day gift that everyone enjoyed this soup for dinner, so there was no short order cooking required.

I also made some freezer meals for Emilia.

And I sorted through the piles of clothes that the kids have outgrown.  Some will be donated, others will be passed on to friends.  This large box is going to our Ms. Rie and her sweet little boy.

Craig gifted me with his time and talents today by completing a few jobs on the honey do list and as well as by taking care of tasks that I hadn't asked him to do.  There's no surprise like opening the door to a spotless microwave, for example.  Craig also hung this painting we bought from a street artist in Yerevan... just a shade under two years for that project to be completed.

Maybe the truth of Mother's Day is that, just like any day, it's not really about me, but about the ones who made me a mother, the treasures entrusted to my care, the little beings who make mothering simultaneously so challenging and so rewarding.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers: bio moms, foster moms, birth moms, step moms, adoptive moms, moms-in-law, moms to be, waiting moms...

Happy Mother's Day to some of you who have been especially in my thoughts today: Beth, Marriya, Mary, Jenni, Molly, and Cherie.  I am so lucky to know moms like you.

O the mother's joys!

The watching, the endurance, the precious love, the anguish, 

the 

patiently yielded life.

Walt Whitman