A Day for Moms

Today was my second Mother's Day.  I never thought any holiday would be more important to me than Christmas or, generally, the holiday season, but I think Mother's Day has surpassed it.  Maybe it's because I believe that being a mother is the most important job in my life, or maybe it's because I can tell Justin tries to take over a lot of the parenting duties today, but that's not actually what I want (although I appreciate it!)  All I wanted to do all day was spend time with my daughter and my husband.  Being able to spend some time with my own mother is a huge added bonus to the day, but I guess mother's day to me isn't about getting a break from being a mom.  It's for celebrating those special little people in your life.  Plus, my little person is SO much fun to be around I would never want to be around anyone else.

Last year's first Mother's Day was a bit of a disaster.  We weren't settled, I wasn't working, we were trying to live off of one salary with my sister, and this is going to sound horribly materialistic, but Kayla (Justin :)) didn't even get me a card.  Before we got married, I read the book "The Five Languages of Love."  I highly recommend this book as it has opened my eyes to a lot of things about our relationship and made a lot of things easier to me.  But basically, my love language is giving/receiving gifts.  At first, I was embarrassed to admit this, but then after I thought about it, I realized something.  It's not that I need something huge and extravagant, it's that I just want some token to savor that shows how much I'm appreciated.  And it's not only about receiving but also giving gifts.  I have a terribly hard time picking out gifts for others because I always want to find the most perfect gift that they will love forever.  Anyways, back to the topic.  I'm learning to live with who I am, whether materialistic or not, and I'm admitting I needed a card (last year that is) especially going through everything I/we were going through.  This year, Justin & Kayla got me some really cute charms for my Pandora bracelet and a card from each of them.  Simple, but I love it.  Especially the cards.

There are so many mothers and mothers-to-be in my life that I hope got to celebrate today in whatever way THEY wanted to.  Even if you are a mother who appreciates a break from your kid(s) today, I hope you got it!  And I hope that more people take a little more time on the 364 other days of the year to let their moms know how much they appreciate them.

I love you, Mom, for always being there for me; for helping out when I need it; for making me laugh and letting me cry; for encouraging me to be who I wanted to be; and most importantly for providing a shining perfect example of what it means to be the best mother.

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back." -William D. Tammeus

Side note:  I love the Olympics.  Like, love love love love love love love the Olympics.  My own mother posted this video a few weeks ago.  At first I thought, what do moms have to do with the Olympics?  Then I realized...