Part One 

Kudos to my hubby and kids for giving me a great Mother’s Day. Well done! I needed it too, after a rough day and night before with a sick toddler (Jules). The girls - don’t ask me how - slept until 8:30 this morning. I can’t tell you how good it feels to wake up naturally, sans alarm clock or crying child. Of course, Jules was pressed against me and woke up the second I stirred, but she gave me a big smile and lay her head on my shoulder.

Dex made me breakfast while I took a long, hot shower. When I came into the kitchen, there was a feast spread out on the table, complete with gluten-free pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and coffee. Eddie had picked some flowers and placed them in a glass. By my plate were cards from the kids. And on the chair was my present - Dex said if I didn’t want it, he could return it, but oh! I want it! I am using it as I type. It’s a 22″ flatscreen monitor for our computer. We are best friends already.

The boys disappeared to lacrosse practice for an hour, so I hung out in the yard with the girls. I sat in the shade and watched them play together for a bit, reveling in their sheer cuteness. Then I felt inspired. We went into the barn, always a treat for the girls who are otherwise forbidden but who are equally obsessed, knowing that the big red door is the portal to all things HORSE. While the girls ran up and down the aisle shouting, “Hi! Hi!” to the empty stalls, I spent about half an hour cleaning a far corner so we can reassemble the home gym I got (used) for Christmas. I want to start using it. This is no hollow resolution - I love to lift weights and, believe me, my body needs it.

My gift to my children, on this mother’s day, is to make a commitment to my physical health so that I can stick around in their lives for a good long time. Whether they like it or not.

Later in the afternoon, we all went on a long walk together. The evening began to show signs of wear and tear, as Sunday evenings will, but all-in-all, it was a lovely, sweet, relaxing day.

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Part Two

I am thinking about my mother today. Not only for the obvious reason, but also because less than two months ago, my mother lost her mother. I miss my grandma very much. Yet I know that my grief and sense of loss is slight compared to what my mom must be feeling. I know too, my dad must be thinking of and missing his own mom, though she has been gone for almost eight years. Your mom is your mom, no matter if you are two or sixty-two.

I sent my mom a couple of gifts and a card. But that is not all I want to give her.

About two weeks after my grandma passed away, I emailed my aunt and asked if she could send me one or two of my grandma’s gowns. I received a box not long after. It took me two days to get the emotional resolve to open that box. As I pulled out gown after gown, six in all, I wept. I had not seen my grandma in seven years although we wrote often, so holding such personal items, her very clothing, was powerfully intimate. One or two of the gowns had been made for her by my mom. My aunt told me that my grandma loved one of them so much she had to practically fight her to get it away from her to wash it (and my grandma was petite but oh so fiesty, so I don’t doubt my aunt’s depiction).

I am going to use the cloth of these gowns to make a quilt for my mother in memory of her mother.

This is not going to be easy, as I am a barely competent seamstress. It is also not going to be easy, as I have discovered, because the thought of cutting the gowns apart to make the quilt pieces is almost unbearable to me. My grandma would most likely think me silly for being sentimental about her clothing. I can hear her now, admonishing me with a laugh. For heaven’s sake, it just some old nightgowns.

And yet, when I hold them, these scant yards of cloth, I feel I am near her. I hope I am able to make something nice and lasting from them. I hope this quilt, in some way, honors my mom’s memories of her mother. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.