What a Life!

I am so proud of myself! Not only did I buy a Mother’s Day card for my mom, I even put it in the mail. It will actually be postmarked tomorrow because the mail has already gone today, but it should still be there on time. I. So. Have. My. Act. Together. [Hi Mom!]

And what are my plans for Mother’s Day? That would be a loaded question…sorta.

My mother-in-law lives in the area, and even back when Steve and I were dating, I always made it a point that we got together with her on Mother’s Day since she lives so close. [My mom lives two-legs of a flight away, so it’s not so easy.]

After I became a mom, the day was somewhat for me too, but we still carried on our old tradiition. My first Mother’s Day (the one where I wanted Steve to distract Ben every time I went to the bathroom so I could have a moment to myself), Steve’s mom suggested we got eat a Valentino’s so we wouldn’t have to cook. Mom’s eat free on Mother’s Day, of course. We arrived a half hour before noon to find people tailgating in the parking lot – even for a table of just four, the wait was three hours! I said, “Over my dead body,” and we went to eat somewhere else.

The next year, all I knew was that I didn’t want to do that again. In fact, I didn’t think I even wanted to spend Mother’s Day with my mother-in-law. So I was clever – I told my parents to come visit for Mother’s Day since I hadn’t been with my Mom on Mother’s Day since I’d left home for college. I wanted to go to a baseball game – something I love to do, especially when the weather is perfect like it was that day. Mom wasn’t so keen on the idea, so she went antique shopping in the Haymarket…and I felt guilty for letting her celebrate the day alone.

Last year, we were in Florida for Mother’s Day. [Yeah, me trying to be clever again.] Dad, Steve and Ben went to a baseball game while Mom and I went shopping. It was pretty fun. Then we waited an hour and a half for a table at Olive Garden. It was fun, but I was still trying to take into consideration how to make the day special for someone other than myself, though I think I did a bit better than the previous year.

This year, the question arose again – how did I want to celebrate Mother’s Day? To be quite honest, spending the day with my mother-in-law still doesn’t make the list of things I want to do. Sorry. It’s my day too. And really, our spending an afternoon with her is just as special the weekend after Mother’s Day as it would be on Mother’s Day. And Mom and Dad came to visit just a month ago so we won’t be seeing them over Mother’s Day this year.

Here’s the deal – if I didn’t have to worry about spending the day with anyone else and making it special for them too, here is what I would do: I would spend the day at home, relaxing. I’d make myself some really yummy meals. Just like with the bathroom thing my first Mother’s Day, Steve and the boys’ gift to me would simply be to stay out of my way so I could enjoy cooking. Really, I don’t ask that much. I might even go so far as to request a trip to somewhere where they have lawn chairs so I could pick out a comfortable one that I like (prior to Mother’s Day) and then enjoy sitting in it and watching the boys play. I really am not asking all that much. But I’m thinking it would be the best Mother’s Day ever.

I still haven’t completely decided what would be on the menu. The only thing I’ve come up with so far is a pie made with some of this from my garden:

I am sure I will come up with a grand plan over the next few days. I’ll have it all spelled out down to the last detail so I am cooking enough to have fun but not so much that I’m slaving in the kitchen all day. And the food will be really, really good. Stuff I wouldn’t normally go to the trouble of doing otherwise. Hot Artichoke Dip? Homemade Italian style pizza? (We had some homemade pizza like that last night, and I’m telling you, it was good!] A fancy breakfast with fruit and some kind of pastry?

We shall see what I come up with in the next few days. Believe me, I’m sure I’ll be posting about what I decide to do. All I can say now is that it’s gonna be good!