Flowers for Mother's Day

These flowers were made for me by Tommy (left) and Scotty (right).  Tommy used watercolors and wrote our names and "I love Mom" in the middle of the flowers.  Scotty used his handprint and tissue paper.  Inside Scotty's card, he drew me a "spaceship".  It's just that...wait, I have something in my eye.  WHAT? 

Tommy used yarn to "embroider" this burlap drawstring bag with my name.  (It says "Mom", obvs.  :) 

Scotty and my mom stopped at Trader Joe's last Thursday, and he put these in the cart, insisting that they had to get them for me.  When he gave them to me that night (so proud of himself!) he said, "These are for you, because I like you so much."  Swoon.  Apparently, he talked about how much he "missed" me all day.  I get it, kid, I missed us too.  (Last week...was challenging.)

My mom and dad gave me a dozen lavender roses.  Gram, Aunt Barbara, my cousin Kathy, and my brother and me, all went to my mom and dad's house.  We had a big barbecue and, since it was rainy and cold, all us MOMS sat in my mom's cozy dining room while all the GUYS hustled the kids into the yard (kids just do not care how cold it is!) and made up our plates and delivered them to us.  We ate and laughed and enjoyed the quiet and each other.  Afterwards, we passed my mom's laptop around the table, enjoying youtube for reminiscing (do I have the only family that listened to CB radios and The Streak in the 1970s?) and Auntie Barbara got teary-eyed (one of my favorite songs...reminds me of my mom and dad) and then my mom got teary-eyed (one of my favorite songs...reminds me of me and my dad) because some songs just make you sigh.  Gram did some swing dancing from her seat and clapped at the end of each song.  Be still my heart.

I sort of "accidentally" scored these beautiful roses, too, and Erik got me an iTunes gift card (My Precious!) and two pounds of See's chocolate.  Nuts and chews, do you really need to ask?    (Most frequently asked question of the day?  "Mommy, can I have a piece of 'your' chocolate?"  :)

I also collected these gorgeous cabbage roses from my mom's garden.  They are sitting in my favorite vase (gorgeous, cobalt blue, blown glass, and given to me by my friend Tracy the day she married her love, Travis) and they smell like roses should.  What is it about roses from the florist?   They just don't "stink" the way garden roses do! 

Mother's Day is for everybody...so I wish a Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is or has a mother!   This weekend we'll head up to Healdsburg to say goodbye and honor the life of Marie's mom (Mamaw, who died at 81 years old) and it was the start to a very hard week when my mom had to tell Marie ~ in her own hospital bed, unable to get stabilized blood pressure and lungs filling with liquid ~ that her mom had passed away.   Marie is home now, and expectations are being adjusted... we've moved from "kicking cancer" to "let her make it through the summer" to "she just wants to get out of the hospital".  Every day is a gift, and when my dad and I drove up last weekend to get my mom, I was very aware of how much it cost dear, sweet Marie to put my dad at ease.  He hasn't seen her since she got sick...and I do declare, despite the feeding tube and the hospital bed in her living room and the constant iv of medication, that he has not seen her sick, even yet.  So much laughter.  If you close your eyes and just listen, it's like none of this is happening at all.  Love her.  Wish she wasn't dying. 

Sorry.  Didn't know this was going there.  I guess it's just what's on my mind, though, and that's life...  sweet, beautiful, and so sad, all at the same time.  All we can do is gather around the table and make our memories.