Mother’s Day, 2024

This country, the greatest country on earth, the United States of America, is the champion of named holidays and official observances. Now, you might say, “Nope, not correct. Nepal has the most religious holidays,” and you would be right, (and how in the world would you happen to know that?), but the USA still holds the record for the total number of all categories of holidays; religious, secular, national, official, and unofficial. In all fairness, we must admit that some of our holidays might not seem quite “bona fide”, but if you started a list of the ones that are real and best loved and you failed to put Mother’s Day right near the top, well, all I can say is you better have a deep hole to hide in. Mother’s Day is the one day of the year when more telephone calls are made than any other. It is understandably and quite properly the day that honors the most important job in all humanity. This was in my mind last Sunday morning when I awoke and immediately panicked when realizing the trouble I was in. My wife had already gone downstairs, and my big plans were crumbling right from the start. My dog was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a look of disapproval and mild contempt as if to say, “you’re already blowing it”. He cocked his head toward the open porch door indicating that the honoree of the day was not in the kitchen. This was good. Maybe, the plan could still work. I casually walked out into the porch, “Oh good morning, Happy Mother’s Day, I was just working on a few things in the kitchen.” The dog looked down and shook his head. This was cutting things close, but I was able to get the pancake batter and sausage going before she came in to inspect. The plan was coming together. “Why don’t you just enjoy your coffee back out on the porch while I finish making breakfast?” I thoughtfully suggested. Yes, now I can do this, nothing to it. I moved on to the second phase. I left the pancakes browning on “flaming-crispy” with the sausage popping and bubbling like a volcano flow. Trying to remember how much homeowner’s insurance I had, I raced outside to retrieve the Mother’s Day gifts from my truck. This was high-level multi-tasking! Seeing me dash out of the kitchen, the dog fell back on his “Smokey the Rescue Dog” training and prepared to evacuate the building. Miracles do happen however and despite slightly overcooked sausage and a few missed-flipped pancakes, the Mother’s Day breakfast was a success. As a matter of fact, it tasted especially good to me after just getting another kind of taste of what 20 minutes of reality kitchen-time in the life of actual Moms feels like. It was exhausting. Anyhow, the smoke cleared, the dog took a nap, and as my wife enjoyed the cards and gifts from her two sons, I thanked the Good Lord for her and all that she does, not just on this special day, but every day. I hope this past Sunday was a good, peaceful day for you and your family celebrating and giving thanks for the very special treasure of a mother’s love.

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