Happy Mother's Day

So I know I am a bit early here, but I was afraid I would forget. Mother's Day celebrates the endurance of our mothers. It is a reminder to them, that they are one year further away from giving birth to you, and one year closer to being a grandmother and seeking revenge for all the pranks you pulled when you were eight. It is a sign that they have survived another year providing nurture and support to you and especially to your father. Mothers, like school teachers, are a bit like camels when it comes to praise and thanks. They may get three decent, "Thank you Mom"s a year. And yet they continue to tirelessly haul their kids to events, clean the house, or cook, clean, work, or whatever it is they do. Typically, they try in a thousand different ways to show their concern, some silent and some not-so-silent.

I remember a few different years that my Mother's day gift was a construction paper card, usually with some innocent stick-figure nature scene in the background, a nice crayon-line rainbow emblazoned across the front, and loving pictures of explosions, robots, and sayings like "Boys are awesome!" written oh, so tenderly inside. And with no access to fundage, I would sneak into my mom's closet where she had about 20 different varieties of perfumes and colognes in elaborate glass shapes like wagons and puppy dogs. These were the ones she never wore but had received as gifts from someone. Like a mad scientist, I would combine as many of these as possible to produce the perfect, new fragrance for my mother. I remember her smiling as she sniffed it, though I think Calvin Klein must have immediately purchased it from her, as it never reappeared after Mother's Day.

So, it is on this May's Mothers Day that I too, share my thanks to my mother. Thanks mom. Thanks for accepting my offerings of concocted perfume, mud men, and hyper-macho cards.

There is some statistic that says on average, mothers who give birth to and raise boys live one year shorter per boy than mothers who raise girls. My mom has raised two boys, my younger brother and myself. I think those two years were well earned in rushing us to the ER for stitches and slings, reaching back in the family minivan to threaten us into submission on long car trips, and fixing the randomly broken things in the house.

So in honor of being a mother to two sons, I wanted to post this video that my friend Mike showed me. If you are an older brother, younger brother, mother of boys or father of boys, this will bring back sweet memories. If it seems crass or idiotic, you probably were not from a home with two competing brothers.

Happy Mother's Day mom.