How is Mother’s Day for You?
April 22, 2008
The Mother’s Day ads are popping up on TV. I’ve started dropping hints about needing a new wallet because left to their own devices my family just might forget this holiday.
Dad’s Job
When my kids, Miss Thang and Handsome, were small their Dad, my first husband, did the shopping. He bought my gift at the same time he bought his mom’s. (And, I have a sneaking suspicion we often got the same thing). Once the kids were old enough to talk, he let them pick the gift. That resulted in my getting a 10 pound bar of Hershey chocolate one year. Now, this would be heaven for some, I know. It’s just that chocolate bars don’t taste great that big and I felt guilty about not eating every single bite. Some gifts were frivolous, other were fun. The woman executive Teddy Bear that says ‘I love you Mom’ when you squeeze her paw is sitting in my office right now.
Tweens and Teens
By this time I was divorced. I continued to buy my ex’s gifts. He made a point of neglecting mine. So some years no one said Happy Mother’s Day. That hurt. Once the kids hit adolescence my gifts seemed much more about them than me, more like a projection of what they’d like to receive. There were a lot of gift cards. Let me go on record right now and say: gift cards are as bad as handing out cash. They require little or no thought or imagination on the part of the giver. And, didn’t you mom always say- it’s the thought that counts?
Now that the kids are full-fledged teens with moolah of their own I’m curious (aren’t I always) to see what they pick out for me. I declared months ago that I’d like a family portrait. We have very few pictures with us all together, and this feels like my last chance before they fly the coup. Realizing I might not get that…I hinted about the wallet.
What does getting a gift on Mother’s Day mean to you?
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