Making Mother's Day

This Sunday is Mother's Day in the UK & Ireland. Some may think of it as yet another over-commercialised occasion. Some may think of it with sadness or longing for someone who is no longer with them or who is not a part of their life. Others among us will be thinking, hang on, I'm a Mother... why is it not *my* day today?

Whatever your take on a day such as this, it happens every year and we all go through our different ways of celebrating/coping/ignoring it. There seem to be a lot of occasions like this in a year nowadays.

However, as a Mum of three young children, I have to say I never appreciated my Mother as much as I do now. It is only recently, since I have been in the situation myself that I realised how much my Mum had done for us as a family. The sleepless nights, the constant learning curves, the battles with boundary tests. All in the name of parenting. Not to mention the day to day tasks; constant preparing and clearing up of food, the driving around, the managing of social lives that are fit for a celebrity, not to mention the mountains of tiny clothes that constantly need cleaning and the total lack of a spare minute to do *anything* for yourself.

Today I am having family round for tea at my house. My sister and I will be preparing all the food and my Mum will be the guest of honour. It would have been nice to have a lay in and been brought a cup of tea in bed, but I somehow knew that was not going to happen. My seven year old daughter is demanding her breakfast even as I type, after crying last night at the thought of me not getting it for her. I know my five year old middle child has something "hidden" in his wardrobe that he has lovingly made for me at school. When asked why he woke me up the night before last purely for a cuddle, his indignant answer was, "it's because I love you". As for the two year old, well he's simply doing his best to help me to get fit by making me charge around all over the place after him so that he doesn't wreck everything in his path.

Mother's Day may not be a pampering, relaxing event as the Mother of small children, but the love you get from the children is so powerful it's enough to make my day every day.

I hope that everyone in the UK and Ireland has a wonderful Mothers Day and at least spends a moment to think of their Mother. Happy Mother's Day!