Happy Mother's Day

All over the world it’s the special day for mothers. When we were kids we’d get up extra early to prepare breakfast in bed for my mom and dad. We’d put the coffee pot on the stove, prepare the instant coffee and then spread butter on the bread, add jam on one, cheese on another, ham on a third. Dad always had to have a glass of milk on the side. We’d carry the plates and cups into their bedroom and call “surprise” even though they had no doubt heard us arguing about who was going to do what. The coffee was always horrible and Mom would have to get up to go make a proper cup for them but they’d eat the sandwiches and enjoy the visit from us. Frequently we would simply make some nice pictures for Mom as her gift because we had no money.

Later on when I did have an allowance and some babysitting money I would buy Evening in Paris perfume (remember that?) and a card that all of us kids would sign. My mother has always been a very practical and down to earth woman so when I was older and working she would prefer that we buy potted roses so she could put them in the garden. When we lived in Kitchener she had an outstanding rose garden and lots of the bushes came from Mother’s Day gifts. This year I bought Mom some huge ceramic containers so she can have a container garden on her back deck. It would just be nice if our weather would cooperate so we could actually start planting in them!

I’ve written quite a number of blogs about my mother but in case you missed it I think I got the best mother in the world. When you come in to her house she is always so welcoming and can never do enough as a hostess. Let’s face it, she spoils me with my special requests. If I ask her “can you make your famous ski-kloser (cinnamon buns)” I will be out there in a couple of hours and smell that delicious just baked smell of cinnamon, yeast and chocolate. If it’s a particularly miserable day and I go out there she will make her special ‘upcooked’ hot chocolate with whipped cream (if it happens to be handy). If I whine a little, or if she wants to bribe me, she will make her clear soup with 2 kinds of boller (meatballs and dumplings).

My mother is 77 years old and I have only once in all my 57 years heard her say an unkind thing about someone and that was so bad. What she said was “she is not a very nice person”. That’s how kind my mother is about people. She doesn’t like to hear gossip and she definitely doesn’t partake in it. She doesn’t like to hear it when one of us complains about another sibling and she doesn’t repeat any of it. My mother just wants peace and accord within the family (and around the world if she could have it!). I was probably her most difficult child during my teen years. My sisters didn’t have the same feeling of being hated by her that I had (all completely ridiculous and shows what a royal pain I was) and my brothers all loved her to bits. I grew out of that as soon as I graduated from high school (and in fact slightly before that when she started supporting me in my move to liberate myself from my dad’s over protectiveness).

Maybe I’ve put my mother on a pedestal but I think she deserves it. She’s raised 6 kids who think the world of her so she definitely did everything right in the long run. Peter, just get over the incident of the brussels sprout sandwiches. John, forget the knickerbockers in grade 3. Lotte, forget the slinging elastics on the ears. Nette, forget the long hours at the supper table when she served up something weird. Erik, well Erik, you don’t have to get over anything because you got spoiled more than anyone else. We all remember how you always got drawing paper when she went shopping – and it wasn’t even your birthday. And Sanne, just make sure you spoil her to death today!

So how do you feel about your mother?

This is me with my Mom at my niece Brittany's graduation. She was recovering from cataract surgery.