Today is Mother's Day. In my family, it is not a celebrated holiday because my husband says that I am not his mother. That's fine with me. However, as we were driving back home from church, I asked my kids if they were doing something special for me. The answer was negative. My husband came to their rescue and said, no - unless you are willing to go get something from McDonalds. Well, McDonalds is special in our family because we do not go there on a regular basis. We eat at the Chinese (Emperor's Garden) or Mexican restaurant (La Fiesta Taqueria) more than we go to McDonalds. Tim and I probably eat more at the Thai Restaurant and the Indian Restaurant (Mylapore) more than we at McDonalds. It is really special.
My kids used to do something for me. They make plans at night, secretly. They get up early and so I deliberately stay in bed until they come with their creation: a buttered piece of toast with a jar of jam on the side. They would watch me eat what they prepared for me. To be able to do something for me made them very happy. They also made all sorts of projects in school for a Mother's Day present. I remember when Brahms was in kindergarten - he made a ceramic project. The project was a purple heart-shaped flat ceramic about two and a half inches wide. In the middle the students were supposed to engrave the word "MOM". So he carefully wrapped the thing he made and hid it until Mother's Day when he presented it to me. I opened it and saw this very special gift, on it was the word "WOW". I was very flattered. It made me feel very special. I hugged and thank him for thinking that I am wow. He said "No, mommy. The heart says MOM." I get it. I am a wow mom!
In the car today, Brahms said, Happy Mother's Day, Mommy. I said thank you. The greatest present that a mother can have is to see her children grow to be God-loving and people-loving. That is all I want. After a stretch of silence - probably contemplation on their part, Brahms spoke again...
Brahms: "Do you think that you are being rewarded?"
Me: "What do you think? Do you think you are rewarding me?
Brahms: "The rewarded is the best judge of her reward. Are you being rewarded by your children?"
Me: "I think that I am getting the reward that I want from my children. However, there is a lot of room for doing more."
Shannon: "So you mean we have not arrived?"
Me: "No. You are on the right path but you need to keep on getting better at it. Loving God and loving others...those are the rewards I want from you."
Shannon/Brahms/Miriam: Awwwww!?!
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