Why I Hate Mother’s Day

But it happens.

My kids don’t owe me anything. They don’t owe me a card. They don’t owe me a gift. If they choose to make something for be just because they love me, I much prefer that. In fact, I have a whole box full of little things they have given me out of love over the years, dried flowers, rocks, stickers, cards and coloring book pages….things given because the heart has moved them to, not because the calendar says they have to do it. You can’t commercialize love and appreciation.

So what about if you’re a total turd, a complete tool who had a loving mother and you grew up neglecting her or ignoring her? Isn’t Mother’s Day the perfect time for you to squeeze all that in? Don’t bother. Your mother knows, believe me. She knows who you are and she knows that one day a year she might get flowers from you. Do you think that appeases her for your behavior throughout the year? Highly unlikely. Do you think it hurts her less? No way.

I love my children and my children love me. Today I get the splendiferous gift of sleeping it, which is great. But that’s a gift from my ex-husband who has the kids this weekend, and something he is welcome to do more often. But more than anything, on Mother’s Day or any day, I know my kids love me because they tell me, we tell each other, every day and we show it in the way we treat each other. All this day does is stress everyone out, making us worry that we didn’t do enough.

So save your champagne brunch and your fifty-dollar-a-dozen roses. Just live well. For your mother, that is more than enough.