My husband always asks me what I would like for Mother’s Day and I always hem-haw and “I don’t know” and “I don’t really NEED anything” and “Maybe just an hour to sit in the sun with a beverage?”
I don’t have giant expectations. My family is all pretty on the ball about letting me know when things are good and when I’ve made some sort of awesome dinner or my laundry attempts are appreciated. Most of the time.
Sometimes I think though, “If I could choose exactly how this day would go and do anything I want and go anywhere I want and nobody NEEDS me for anything, what would I do?”
I would LOVE to be able to go to the store for a few hours and pick out adorable new clothes without chasing my little superheroes through the dressing room. But I don’t know how to pick out clothes and I’m not sure how to be adorable and shopping annoys me anyway. So really I just want a personal shopper who will buy it all, dress me up like a paper doll and then handle all the returns. And write out a list with diagrams of how I should put the outfits together.
To cap off my new outfits that don’t include gym clothes, I will require a personal hair stylist. My idea of “leaving the house appropriate” is a messy ponytail that has not been combed or even washed in about two days. When I actually do dress up, I pull out the straightener and fry it to pieces so I won’t have to think about it all night. I’m terrified to cut my hair shorter because that would require styling. If anyone in the world wants me to look more put together, I insist that someone come do my hair everyday. And give me a head massage. And put some mascara on these tired eyes. Because I’m too tired to do it.
What I really want for Mother’s Day is to not be in charge of a single meal all day or the day after (no packing lunches!). But I would not be able to not help and I would end up annoying everyone in the kitchen and probably end up reloading the dishwasher. I would prefer someone outside my house to make us all three meals in their kitchen, bring it over and drop it off. I don’t think I could stand going out to eat on Mother’s Day and waiting in line. I don’t like waiting to eat and I like to enjoy my food. Please remember, I have small people who don’t like to sit still. Home is WAY better.
I would LOVE to sleep longer than 6.5 hours in a single night. I think you’d have to knock me out.
I would love a few hours spent at the park or hiking with my little hoodlums where they could run their fool heads off. And sunshine, lots of sunshine. And then a few hours with a good book and a cup of hot coffee and no interruptions. And a surprise trip to the beach with an ice cold beverage by the water. That’s not asking for much.
I would love for my children to turn off their bathroom sensors, just for one day. I can’t even tiptoe back to the potty without hearing little feet behind me. Mom, can I have a snack? Mom, I’m thirsty. Mom, where is my Ironman suit? Mom, can I someday have a real Captain America shield that is giant and indestructible and comes back to me when I throw it?
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If someone would come to my house, clean it from top to bottom, dust the baseboards, clean fingerprints off of, you know, everything, dust ceiling fans, clean the weird icky greasy stuff off my oven hood, clean behind my washer and dryer and fridge, dust the blinds and generally do everything I never make time for. And then insist they come back the next week and that it won’t cost me a thing. Be still my heart.
Happy happy happy Mother’s Day.
But then I think that my life is this way because I choose it to be. I choose to work from home with all the hours God has given me. I choose to go to the gym all the time. I choose to have parties and BBQs (even when the house is a DISASTER) and go to baseball practice with my husband when I probably could stay home (sometimes). I CHOOSE to be busy and choose to be involved and committed and most of the time overwhelmed and chaotic, but happy.
I know there will come a day when I’m not racing from morning to impossibly late at night and I will forget what life was like way back when. If I had some of the things mentioned above, they would be fleeting and not a true part of what my life is right now. My life is LEGO and Justice League and Star Wars and wrestling and fart jokes and Calvin and Hobbes and baseball and clutter and madness and endless dishes and dirt and little boy sweat and smelly feet. Anything else would be a travesty.
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But a beach vacation would be nice. I could force myself to enjoy that.
Hooray for Mothers and all their awesome.
If you could ask for one thing on Mother’s Day and it wouldn’t cost a penny but be everything you ever wanted, what would it be?
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