Mother’s Day is coming up and each year I struggle to find the right things to buy or do for someone who has done a lot for me in my life.
My mom and I are different in a few ways, and we march to slightly different drums but she has always accepted me and encouraged me. She’s taught me a lot of things along the way too and I don’t know if she even realized some of them.
You always have time to read.
My mom reads a lot. Growing up it seemed like every day we were at the library.
She knew the maximum amount of books we could check out and she wouldn’t leave until she had her quota. Looking back I think she even managed to work out some covert deal with the library staff because there always seemed to be about 20 books floating around the house.
I don’t think there is a library in central Alberta that hasn’t been visited by her. The staff at the Mary C. Moore Library in Lacombe know her quite well and now that she lives near Gull Lake the staff at the Bentley Library are getting to know her pretty well too.
Always carry a Kleenex.
You can squish a bug, wipe up a spontaneous mess, or just use it to act as a barrier between you and anything you deem “gross.”
The best cleaning is done to music.
There are quite a few songs that I hear that instantly rocket me back to the Saturday mornings of mom cleaning. The first few bars of “Centerfield” by John Fogerty or “Sleeping with the Enemy” by Roger Hodgson brings back images of her going about the house cleaning and singing.
You can never have too much Tupperware
She’s never actually said that phrase out loud and it’s not stitched on a pillow in her house I’m just assuming this lesson is a thing by the amount of Tupperware she has always had.
There are containers for salads, cookies, sandwiches, liquids, veggies, and any other thing you would want to put in an air-tight container and throw in the fridge to forget.
She seems to keep track of her lids better than I do though.
A cold cloth has magical healing powers.
I’m not sure how it started but when I was a kid and got sick my mom would give me a cold washcloth to put on my forehead. The placebo effect had me feeling better within minutes.
I now use it with my kid and it still works wonders.
As a mom myself I know she probably doesn’t want much (I better not forget to call her though) but I hope she knows how much I appreciate all that she has done for me. I would not have been able to pursue my travels, my career and life if it wasn’t for her beside me the whole way.
If she’s a part of your life remember to give your mom, step-mom, sister, aunt, or caregiver a call this weekend.