Sunday Salon: Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day and I should probably wax eloquent about the three short (but growing at an alarming rate) people who make it possible for me to claim a rose after brunch on this day every year. I'm not really a wax eloquent kind of mother though, more a wax sarcastic mother. Not that I don't tear up at others' beautiful tributes to moms, because I do. But my experience mothering can be more accurately summed up by 7 year old T.'s comment at the yearly brunch this morning: "My favorite thing about Mother's Day is that we go to someplace fancy that has lots of cake." (Said over the remains of *2* slices of death by chocolate fudge cake that made my teeth hurt just to look at.) I think celebrating me was somewhere about 6th on his list of good things about the day. Typical. Of course, I might be a bit worried if I had a smarmy little Eddie Haskell who oozed on about me and my stellar mothering traits when faced with two pieces of the most densely chocolate looking cake on the planet. And really, isn't my job as a mom to help them sever that umbilical cord, becoming individuals in their own rights, no matter how much it might ultimately hurt? I might not be the weepy-eyed, maternal ideal, but I think I do a few things alright on the mom front (we'll ignore for the moment the sheer amount I screw up too). Now, will it be a strike for or against me if I remind them to dig their Mother's Day school projects out of their backpacks and hand them over? I promise not to toss them in the recycle bin, at least not immediately and not when they are looking.

As on other non-Mother's Day Sundays, this post is an opportunity for me to look back at the week just past and take stock. The good, the bad, and the ugly as it were. Reading-wise I've done well so far, having read 8 books for the month of May already (5 in the past week). Review-wise, I haven't written nearly enough, especially given the speed with which I am adding books to the "need to be reviewed" pile. And attitude-wise my week has been in the toilet. I can't quite put my finger on it but I've been short-tempered, vaguely dissatisfied, and mopey. Hmmmm. And you wonder why no one put celebrating me on the top of their favorite things about Mother's Day list! Here's hoping that this coming week accentuates the good, negates the bad, and completely reverses the ugly. I'll have my Mother's Day book store gift card to help start the process.

Don't forget about my Cinco de Mayo giveaway of Robin Hemley's Do-Over. It's not about mothers but fathers are a close second, right? And it is a fun and funny book.