Mother's Day

I spent some time with my mother today to celebrate Mother's Day early. Traditionally we do this so that I can spend my Mother's Day with my kids. We had lunch at Brio and then went to her house so I could borrow some luggage for my upcoming trip to Hawaii. I was born there and this is my first return trip to the islands since leaving at 9 months old. My mom has been several times since and loves to tell me stories about her trips and give me advice on where to go and what not to miss.

As I sat there listening to my mom while she gave me her travel tips, I watched her hands moving gracefully as she gestured while speaking. She has always had such delicate, beautiful hands and perfectly manicured nails. Her hands are now ravaged with arthritis and the swollen joints are hard to ignore on such dainty fingers. I don't ever remember noticing it so much before. It hit me today how my mom has aged and I vow to myself to spend more time with her because suddenly the clock seems to be ticking a little bit louder.

Tonight I received an email from my friend JoAnn whose 15 year old son Austin is battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She has been keeping an online journal of her son's treatments and progress since he was diagnosed November of 2008. This is his second tour with the illness as he fought and recovered from this same cancer at age 6. He was diagnosed again right in the middle of eighth grade football season, so of course all of us were aware and devasted by the news. JoAnn keeps us informed through her journal entries and we in turn leave uplifting and positive messages for Austin to help boost his morale.

Austin's immune system is very low right now and with the chemo treatment he is on his public outings are very limited. He is home schooled by a private tutor because going to school is too risky for him healthwise. JoAnn mentions in her journal that for Mother's Day she will be working on a school project with her son that she thought he had completed already. She said at first she was mad at him for not finishing his project and she was a little bit ticked that she would have to spend her Mother's Day doing homework. Then she received a Happy Mother's Day email from a friend that lost her son last summer and JoAnn realized how incredibly selfish she was being knowing her friend would give anything to spend one more day with her own child. She said that email definitely got her priorities in order and put an end to the pity party she was having about doing homework on Mother's Day.

Reading JoAnn's journal makes me so grateful to have healthy kids. I can't imagine walking in her shoes for one day much less the many months that she has. The fear of losing a child is always in the back of every mother's mind but for JoAnn it is lurking behind her and tapping her shoulder. The clock must be deafening for her.

Tomorrow morning when my kids wake me up much too early to give me cold scrambled eggs and pancakes with way too much blueberry syrup, I'm going to hug them a little tighter and let them know how much I appreciate them. Then I am going to call my mom and tell her how much I enjoyed being with her today and make our plans for next Saturday. Then she and I will laugh about the kids cooking breakfast and she will tell me stories about when I used to do it for her. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing on Mother's Day.