Step back with me to Wednesday, February 14, 2007. Picture me coming home from work super late. ToolMan has been keeping CRB since the afternoon. I come into the kitchen and see some chocolate and a cute Valentine's Day stuffed dog on the island. Picking up the stuffed dog, I see a card. It's addressed to MOM in my husband's handwriting.
"Hey ToolMan, did you forget to mail your mom her card?" I ask aloud.
"No." he replies, and he looks at me and smiles.
"Well then whose card. . . OH! ...WOW! Thank you!!"
This Mother's Day was different. The painful yearning that I felt for the last 5 Mother's Days was absent. Last year I was pregnant with CRB and we had known for several weeks that he was a boy. It should have been a happy day, but I have no memory of it. I spent so much of my pregnancy in a state of intense anxiety. The only memory that I have from last year is the sweet mother-to-be card that Kerri gave me. I kept that card out on the baker's rack in the kitchen until after CRB was born. In late September cards welcoming the baby surrounded that hopeful card.
Today was a good day. ToolMan gave me a beautiful Waterford vase that is the first in a series planned for Mother's Day. CRB gave me smiles, a hug, and we all had a two and a half hour afternoon nap. This evening I received great cards: one from ToolMan, and the other from my little boys Colin (yorkie) and CRB. This time I got the mom reference without missing a beat.
