Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day - Why I'm an Idiot








Happy Mother's Day
Why I'm an Idiot










Let me explain
I have 2 teen sons and a 12 yr old son. Hubby works shift work so for two weeks at a time, I'm pretty much a single mom who also works full time. I admit more times than not, I feel as though I am nothing more than a bank machine, taxi driver and a laundress to my boys. 


Every single day I must drive one son home from school rugby practice because the school bus has long departed by the time practice is over. Three nights a weeks I must shuffle two sons back and forth from football practices which takes place at two different stadiums at opposite ends of town. I volunteer occasionally for the high school athletics and football clubs. 


On weekends, how many mom's get the, "Can you drive me to..." speech? Oh yeah me too. With all the running around I need to do during the week, I just want to crash at home on the weekend. Soon those football practices will accompany out of town games and those possible weekend rest times will be a thing of history until August. (or until the fall football season starts)


All week I was looking forward to yesterday. I had plans to sleep in, get up whenever I felt like it and then go to my favourite Thrift Shop to browse for hours (alone) on all the book deals. (Big Sale)
That didn't happen. 


My plans got thwarted by the begging of my 12 yr old to drive him to meet his friends at the mall. I wanted to go to my second hand store but now I needed to wait on the agreed upon friend meet up time. That means less time for book browsing so I was a grumpy mama. 


45 mins! 45 mins I literally stood outside of Walmart with my son at the mall waiting for his friend to show up. See the thing with 12 year olds is that they make plans and THEN they consult a parent. Apparently that second part didn't happen because the friend was not allowed to go to the mall. At this point, I had been standing inhaling the fumes of idling cars too long and I ranted on Twitter begging for a Mother's Day where I could just be alone. I was completely whiny. 


Finally we leave and my alone time is shot to hell because my 12 yr old now needs to come with me to that second hand store. He's miserable, hates shopping and is very sorry about the misunderstanding with his friend (good thing I didn't just leave him there!) I'm miserable because that store is going to close in about an hour. 


Fast forward to store. I rushed through what was left of the sale and I've got some potential book buys. I am starting to read all the book blurbs when my 12 yr old comes up to me and announces that he is going to buy me something from this second hand store. He holds up a gold rimmed decorative souvenir plate of Scotland. I drop the books because my heart burst with love and I hugged him. My entire family knows about my dream of visiting Scotland. That he thought about me when he saw this plate sitting on the shelves warmed me down to my toes.  


The plate was $6 which was more than his allowance but he had his money saved up because of his mall trip plans. I made him put the plate back. For one reason the plate cost too much and second, it was an item that I really couldn't use for anything. It was thought is that mattered here. 


Today Mother's Day morning I woke up to breakfast in bed. Guess what my eggs and bacon was placed upon? Yep, that gold rimmed cheesy plate of Scotland. 




Apparently my son purchased the plate when I was concentrating on the book blurbs and sneaked it out to the truck. Yesterday night he waited for me to be busy, washed the plate and plotted with his dad and his brothers to deliver me breakfast in bed. I may have had tears in my eyes this morning. 


This brings to back to why I'm an idiot. Yesterday I ranted and raved about just wanting to be alone for a little while. I did this diatribe verbally as well as on Twitter. Truth is, I love spending time with my boys, I am a fanatic lover of their football and rugby and I don't really mind that part of the driving. We both take each other for granted. I guess Mother's Day is a great time for reflection after all. 


I'm going to proudly display that silly Scotland plate and every single time I look at it, I'm going to remember how lucky I am that I raised some very thoughtful sons. A mother could only be so lucky to have boys like mine. My rant yesterday was dumb. I was an idiot. 




8 comments:

Laurie said...

How very sweet of D. Just when you have them figured out they go and do something like that. happy Mother's day to you. You really are a great one.

Anonymous said...

Awwww... What a great surprise! You and your husband are doing something right, to raise such thoughtful sons!

You are not an idiot--you're a human who is allowed to feel overwhelmed and tired and cranky at times. Have a happy Mother's Day!

Julie said...

Everyone is entitled to a good rant on occasion, and you certainly have more than enough on your plate (no pun intended). But it's so nice when something as simple as a decorative plate, maybe something you'll never, ever use, is bought out of love and it reminds you how precious family really is.

Happy Mother's Day to you! I hope you've enjoyed the day with your boys! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the lovely comments. I feel great today.

Margaret said...

Crying. I'm crying. Damn you.

Andrea Murdock said...

I totally get it though. I have had those days too and then they go do something that breaks my heart into pieces with love. I literally feel my heart hurt. It is then that I think how amazing it is to be loved back as much as you love them. It is not the big expensive presents that bring us the most pride and joy- it is the ones that cost little yet mean so much.

Tomorrow it will be back to 'but MOM!!!' and us feeling our hair turning grey but that plate will always be there to remind you that it's worth it.

love you MK!!!

Diane D - Florida said...

That was so very sweet of your son to do that for you

However, not to put a damper on it, but those souvenir plates are not really safe to eat food off of. I would just make that the one time use, and then display your plate proudly in a cabinet.

Unknown said...

Hugs Margaret and thanks for commenting!

Thanks Andrea for stopping by and understanding! You get me.

Diana - Thanks for taking time to comment. Yes I know the plates are meant as decoration. This one time they were thinking I wouldn't notice until I ate all that bacon and piles of eggs. LOL (like I wouldn't notice a gold rimmed plate LOL) and then be surprised.
I have to find a wall hanger now. I hope you had a fabulous day yourself.