Mother’s Day – an emotional minefield

After weeks of seeing advertisements promoting Mother’s Day, it’s finally here. No fanfare in our house. No little feet giggling as they run down the hall with a treasured homemade gift. No phone call from the child who’s now an adult with a life of his own and his own family. It’s potentially a very sad day since David died 2 1/2 years ago. But, as his father reminded me, “make it a Happy Mother’s Day with good memories of those 50 years (he lived) and especially of the love he gave to you.”

My own mothers are gone. The woman who mothered and raised me died an unbelievable 37 years ago. The woman who gave me life, and who I enjoyed getting to know later in my life, has now been gone for eleven years.

Life’s an adventure with many ups and downs. David’s birth was definitely an up. Watching him grow up to be a wonderful man was an up. His death was not, but his memory is, an up.

So today, as advised, I choose to celebrate the happy memories of motherhood.

I hope his family, especially his almost adult son and daughter, Mattias and Isla, have fond memories too. I know his Dad and I both do, as do his stepfather and stepmother.

I saw a cardinal in the yard yesterday so I choose to believe it was David’s light passing by to say “Hi! How’re ya doin’? Happy Mother’s Day!”