Today is Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to spend the day with my mom. Ironically, the reason why I won’t get to see her is that it is Mother’s Day. My mom owns and runs a small general store outside of Tallahassee, Florida that includes an florist shop called Creative Designs. The lead up to Mother’s Day is one of the busiest times of the year for them.

I was thinking about that this morning, and realized that this situation really sums up my mom’s life in a nutshell. She’s so busy doing for others that she doesn’t take the time she should for herself. She spends Mother’s Day helping everyone else in town tell their moms “thanks.”

When we were children and teenagers, we expected perfection out of our parents. My mom went through a very rough time in her life when I was finishing high school and starting college. I had a pretty tough time dealing with it. But as I became an adult myself I learned that life isn’t always so easy and the solution to our problems doesn’t always fit into the easy formulas. And I have learned how easy it is to make mistakes. Even big mistakes.

Being a grown up has made me love and admire my mom more than I can ever express for her courage and determination to overcome the bumps in her life.

Mom is trying to sell the store, and when it sells we’re looking forward to being able to spoil her a little… OK, we’re looking forward to being able to spoil her a lot! It will be a little weird for her at first, since she’s not used to being on the receiving end of things. But her children can’t wait for it. She’s earned it. It’s our turn to give back to her.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!