Mother's Day 2009

I have the most incredible sons...for years, Mother's Day has come and quickly passed, as Ted, their dad, took the lead and MADE them treat mom like "Queen for a Day"...which I have loved, every bit of it...but lately, it isn't their dad who leads them in this. Last year, while I was out of town, the son who GAVE me the privilege of celebrating Mother's Day by being born on that very weekend 23 years ago, secretly came home from college to surprise me...and was waiting for me when I arrived, with a huge smile and a beautiful portrait OF ME, that he had sketched...and, as always, the boys treated me like "Queen"...

This year, I wasn't really expecting much...my "baby" has moved again...only this time much farther away. He has discovered love, as God intended, and has moved to be with her in Washington State (a mere 1,700 miles away). Again, his birthday fell on Mother's Day weekend...which stirs great emotion and memory.

Josiah has moved on his own as well...not quite so far -- about 27 miles away...but nonetheless, I miss him...as much as I do Joe... He, too, has his own life now, and it is presumptuous for me to think that he will continue to include me in his life, let alone make me "Queen for a day" any longer...

Elizabeth Stone said..."Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around on the outside of your body." I could just as easily have written this, because the joy and the pain of having children, loving them, watching them grow, their hurts, their failures, their successes...it is no different than if it were happening to me. I have watched, as my sons have grown, from infancy to toddler-hood to adolescence to teen to adult...from complete dependence and reliance upon us -- to fleeing the nest and spreading their wings to rise and fall on their own. This is the challenge...to continue to love, and ache, and rejoice...without condition. To let go, and hope that all you have tried so hard to teach them has somehow gotten in...or at least some of it.

This year, as I pondered my first Mother's Day WITHOUT one of my sons, I began to look back over his life...and that of the others, and to question...DID I do right by them? DID I set the example and teach them as God had entrusted me? What if I was wrong? Do they KNOW my heart? Do they realize my love?

Today, Josiah came to church and then joined us for a wonderful Mother's Day Buffet and then followed us home..."just because"...he presented me with a card...one of those music cards. It reads ::To the best mom ever! The mother of mothers, the Queen of Queens. You have made my life so wonderful and I thank you for giving me life. I love you so incredibly much.::

Josh blessed me with a status statement saying "Happy Mothers Day to all the moms, but especially MINE" and James put my name in an acronym: L-oving A-mazing U-ndescribable R-elevant I-mportant E-legant and as if that wasn't enough, he turned the page over to make an entire word picture with another hundred words that he felt described me...one of which was "FRIGGEN AWESOME!"

Upon arriving home, I was greeted with the whole bunch of them...it was Julian's turn to present his gift...



Needless to say, I could hardly breathe and just about lost complete control -- which greatly pleased my sons! Apparently, the message has gotten through! I will forever be in love with six men!!!