Best Mother’s Day Ever

Today they let me sleep in until 9am. It was rare and heavenly and so appreciated! Over coffee they gave me gifts — handmade cards and school Mother’s Day projects that only a mother of young children can receive — them beaming over it with pride and happiness almost as much as me. It is a precious time, this certain stage, of motherhood. Braydon gave me a Kindle (I’m finally converted!), and tonight I’m already 2 chapters into my first book. After coffee and gifts we went on a 12-mile bike ride. Our family record to-date, 12 miles is far with two just-barely-8-year-olds and a 3-year-old-being-towed-in-a-bike-trailor. It was sunny and gorgeous and the perfect temperature. We stopped only once, for water and peanut butter crackers, but the rest of the time we just biked and biked and biked. There were wild purple flowers blooming everywhere — my favorite color. The boys were convinced they were blooming just for me. After the ride I watched Meera play on the playground with a friend she instantaneously made right there on the spot. I was proud of her outgoing nature and ability to smile so freely and play so happily and make someone else so happy. Kyle and Owen wandered off to join in a pick-up volleyball game amongst a group of college-aged boys. The girlfriends of the players fell in love with K & O and offered them popsicles. They gladly accepted, but only if they could have one for their sister. I was proud of their outgoing nature and ability to smile so freely and play so happily and make someone else so happy. My kids are pretty awesome. I let myself see that today — deliberately I let myself — and tried to not let worrisome thoughts and concerns enter my head (am I doing right by them? am I good enough? can I do this? are they ok? — I tried to not let those incessant thoughts scoot in). It was nice to do that for a day– to just let myself see them for the pure awesomeness that they are, and just be proud of it. A gift to myself. We then went for a “Linner” (our favorite sort of meal: the late lunch/early dinner… the “Linner”). We sat outside at a chain Mexican restaurant that we know has great cheesy (literally and figuratively) queso dip. We dipped our chips and ate and drank and talked about the future and reminisced about the past. We were the best version of us today. It was great. It was the best Mother’s Day ever.

(p.s. don’t worry– big 8th Birthday post, and lots of catch-up, brewing)