Celebration after celebration after celebration

May always begins with lots of celebration for our family…and all these celebrations involve little old me! We start the month with the birthday, followed by Mother’s Day, and cap it off with our anniversary on the 15th. Two weeks of lots of focus on me. Two weeks of showers of praise and blessings. It can be a bit overwhelming. Guess I didn’t think it through too thoroughly when we picked our wedding day (give a gal a break, Mother’s Day wasn’t really on the radar at that point)!

Let me tell you how much my husband LOVES this time of year. It’s a lot of pressure to make each day special and separate (although I’m honestly not too picky or upset if we combine the birthday and anniversary celebrations). To make matters worse this year, we’re watching every penny AND it’s our 10th anniversary. Poor man. Lucky for him gifts are not my love language. I’m just as content with some wonderful quality time and words from the heart. That more than fills my cup.

Lucky for him as well that I’m not a big fan of Mother’s Day. One might think I would be after longing for a child for so many years; but I’d rather you forget Mother’s Day and be nice to me the other 364 days of the year. Something about being a jerk (aka – unappreciative or unsupportive)more than you are not, but showering the one you love with accolades and gifts just because someone invented a day to celebrate mothers doesn’t really touch my soul. Same goes for Valentine’s Day in my book.

(Now birthdays and our anniversary = a different story. I don’t need diamonds or jewels or fancy trips, but you better not forget. I’m even flexible enough to celebrate on a different day – just acknowledge that you know it’s my/our special day. I honestly think I’m pretty easy to please in this area.)

So late yesterday afternoon when he asked what I might want for Mother’s Day, I drew a complete blank. Honestly, not having to think about what to feed everyone or have any part in preparation of any said meal and a nap would be what would make me feel like a queen on Sunday. He was not impressed with my answer. I think he might have been a little frustrated. I figured most guys would do somersaults to have such a simple request. I guess after 10 years I still surprise him at times - albeit rarely.

And he still surprises me too – a lot, honestly. (And I’m not just talking about the MANY times he jumps out from behind something to scare me. I still get scared after all these years, and he still gets such a kick out of my reaction. We are such children!)

When he and the kids got home from church last night, they came bearing gifts –

They were all so proud. Clay even got them to say “Happy Mother’s Day!” The boy picked out orange flowers, and the girl got purple (she also wanted orange, but Clay convinced her I needed 2 different arrangements). Aren’t they beautiful? While it’s a few days early, he wanted to take advantage of having the kids out alone (I needed some time off my feet last night so I skipped church). The kids talked about the flowers until they went to bed, and continued this morning.

I may not need accolades on Sunday or even some special gift – shoot, with the cost of cards these days, I’d rather you save the money – but I will say that hearing my precious children tell me they love me as they proudly presented their flowers melted my heart.