I wrote some thoughts on Mother’s Day back HERE.  

I wrote about motherhood and it’s beauty and the people who mother in so many shapes and forms.

But I didn’t write about the people who made me a mother.

Oh and these two as well:
(They who are settled safely into a summer adventure in China and who wrote me the sweetest text)
And this one who FaceTimed a few times from her temporary summer perch in Utah and wrote me the nicest notes:
(I’m obviously technologically challenged and couldn’t get a great screenshot, gosh darn it!)
I felt like the luckiest lady ever to be their mother.  
And to have this guy who gave me them, my children, and gave me himself…and also gave me my favorite flowers:  
(and also who doesn’t bask in limelight and works behind the scenes, love him)
All of them: those I love most in the world who forgive me when I make mistakes (and believe me, there are a lot of them), who learn with me, who are patient with my crazy ideas, cry with me, build me, and bring me more happiness than I could have ever imagined.
We, all the women in our congregation, were showered with love at church:

Yes that is Claire you see up on the right, and no, she’s not a mother so therefore is not supposed to be hovering over the cupcakes but how can you not when the hallway is lined with them?

 

My self-proclaimed Mother’s Day tradition is to go on a hike. 

It’s the only way I could get my family to jump on board with that hobby I love so much and we’ve done it year after year.  But Lucy sadly really cannot do much on the hiking front any more.  She was on her last leg last year.  She cannot see the shadows of where to step among the rocks.  So I opted for a walk through the pebbly paths of the close-by bird riparian. 

But big storm clouds were gathered outside and I knew we were running out of time.

Part of me just wanted to sit outside and paint those clouds. 

Maybe I’ll still try to paint them.  The sky was so beautiful!

But we opted to bike to the riparian instead of walk.

And it was a good choice.

Claire got the raw end of the biking idea with her old bike, low tires, a loose chain that kept falling off and handlebars that she had to hold up because they kept falling down. 

Oh, and the seat is all ripped up and goopy for some reason. Ha!

But she was a good sport 😉

Riding behind her made me a little melancholy for those days when she used to ride that bike around the neighborhood and to school and back, her yellow bike matching her sunny personality.  Made me miss the baby fat on her cheeks and her braces smile and her little-ness.

But also made me appreciate the big Claire.  The one who works so hard and is just over an inch shorter than me and who is so good and kind. 

It made me to happy to celebrate being a mother…hers as well as the others, all pedaling along stretched in front sometimes and in back other times, Bo galloping along next to us, the storm clouds closing in.

By the time we were en route home giant drops of rain were starting to fall intermittently from the sky.

The most beautiful afternoon filled with the smell of rain on hot pavement (my favorite) and these people I adore:

 (Let’s pretend that selfie is actually focused for just a minute…can you see it? 🙂

These girls presented me with the kindest, most thoughtful gift:

 Let’s get a better look:

 There we go.  A vase filled with 22 love hearts for the almost 22 years I’ve been a mother.

How sweet is that?  And the best part to me was their smiles as they handed it over, and their claim of how amazed they were that it wasn’t at all hard to think of 22 thing they love.

Sweethearts.

Lucy gave me a sweet note scrawled out with love that made my heart swell up as well.

We had Dave’s parents over for dinner and games:

 Oh how grateful I am for this lady!

We ran over to the high school to catch the post-rain beauty for some quick graduation pictures…time is closing in on us and this was one day we figured we could make it work…

(more soon, loved that light so much!  this graduation thing is really happening in a week, holy smokes, I’m not ready!)

And then snuggled in to catch up on a few episodes of This Is Us (we are very far behind in that show), and a back rub from my number one.

Last year I had a weird Mother’s Day.  Oh it was great to be surrounded by those I love, so much kindness to be showered on others, so much that reached me too.  But I was somehow fussed up in how I was doing as a mother.  We can sometimes put such huge expectations on ourselves!

But this year, I reminded myself that it’s the journey of motherhood that makes it beautiful. 

Even through our faults and mistakes and sometimes sorrows, we are enough.

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5 Comments

  1. What a beautiful day. As I was driving home today from the grocery store I thought I have been reading this blog for over 10 years now and have learned so much from you!!
    Would you also share where you got Claire’s plaid dress from ?

    1. That's so nice, Heidi! I love that we've "known" each other for that long! 🙂

      Claire's dress is a hand-me-down from Elle, then Grace, and I don't remember where we got it. My best guess would be ASOS.

      xoxo

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