I was having a conversation recently about Mother’s Day, and how I don’t feel like it’s for me. Which is weird. I obviously feel like a mom – I spend a good portion of every waking hour focused on doing mom things and thinking about my kids. I’m deep in all the mom stuff. I’m currently pregnant with our third child. So why does Mother’s day make me feel so odd? Is it all the commercials of breakfast in bed and specialness of the day? Is it seeing everyone else so focused on brunch reservations and fancy family photos that makes me feel like I should be doing something I’m not interested in? That I’m not living up to my Mother’s Day potential?
I’m not even sure how I’d want to spend the day in a perfect world. The truth is, I spend most weekends enjoying my kids. Just last weekend we had breakfast delivered to the house and sat down together to eat a big brunch. It was spontaneous and we didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, and it was perfect. Later we went out and had ice cream as a family. So it’s probably not important that we do something “special” on Mother’s Day. You can make all the plans in the world and it could end up rainy, or the kids will be in bad moods, or I someone ends up sick. I guess I don’t want to put pressure on a day that might leave me feeling disappointed if it isn’t “perfect.”
My day was pretty great for the record, maybe because I didn’t put too much pressure on it. The kids made me some cute crafts, I got some forced alone time, and when I was feeling too tired, I cancelled the one activity I’d asked for, and didn’t feel guilty or disappointed about it. I’ll probably continue to feel weird about this holiday for a while, but that’s okay.
I’m also trying to make sure I get some time to myself and give myself a break now and then, as it becomes easier to do that. It’s probably important that I do that on more than just Mother’s Day… I’ve got a Target trip in my future, and I may even celebrate my birthday later this month! Baby steps!
