Mixed Mother's Day

Now that my mother is in a long-term care facility, I can't wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She's not really verbal anymore, and I don't think she would understand even if I were to be able to talk to her in person. It's a bittersweet realization: The first Mother's Day I won't be able to reach out to my mother.

So I'll reach out to my father instead, and will call him today. I'm certain he's feeling even more mixed about the day than I am.

Hug or call or email your mom today, if you can.

Lost the battle, won the war

According to the caption, this rhythmic gymnastics champion couldn't perform calmly after hearing her daughter cry, so she pulled the toddler on stage with her instead. "She lost the competition, but in the eyes of millions of viewers, she was the real winner."

Brava! Watch and enjoy at this link or click the link below.

After hearing her daughter cry, the multiple-time champion couldn’t perform calmly and decided to share the stage with her daughter instead. She lost the competition, but in the eyes of millions of viewers, she was the real winner. pic.twitter.com/2qtPIryp9r

— Russian Market (@runews) August 31, 2024

Mother's Day gift

For a Mother's Day gift, Older Daughter came up to visit and we all went for a walk in the woods after church.

We brought along Mr. Darcy, of course, and followed the same logging road we followed a few weeks ago, only going farther up in elevation. We parked, then set out for about a four-mile amble. It was lovely.

It was interesting to note the difference in vegetation between our place and this higher location. For one thing, we saw ocean spray (not yet flowering – that brown cluster is last year's bloom). This lovely shrub was common around our old house but seldom seen at our new place. More water? Different elevation? Who knows?

Lots of massive rocks along this route.

We passed many areas of sun-pierced splendor.

This massive Ponderosa pine had a hollowed-out base.

We saw a smattering of wildflowers, but it's still too early in the season for much of a show. Here are bluebells:

Wake robins:

Dog-tooth violets:

This was cedar territory, and boy did we see a lot of cedars.

Some were massive.

In fact we saw one cedar that was so huge – easily four feet across – that I didn't bother taking a photo because it was off the scale. No one could have appreciated the size without something contrasting it at the base.

How tall would you say these Ponderosa pines are? 200 feet?

Sadly it appeared not everyone appreciated the beauty along this forest road. We saw a surprising amount of garbage. Next time we'll bring bags and pick things up as we go.

We turned a corner and came across a late bank of – snow! Mr. Darcy thought this was just a splendid discovery.

Then we walked down a spur road and saw even more snow.

We turned around to hike back to the car, and Mr. Darcy decided this was the time to start putting things in his mouth. First there were sticks of various lengths...

...then clumps of deer hair where some animal met an unhappy fate...

...and then, the pièce de résistance, the leg bone from a deer. Woot! Doggy gold!

 

From long and weary experience, we knew better than to try to wrestle the leg bone from Mr. Darcy's iron jaws, so Don came up with a clever idea: He wrapped the leash round the bone once or twice. The leash essentially tugged the bone out of his mouth. Clever solution!

So that was our Mother's Day gift for all of us – a lovely spring walk in the woods and a deer leg bone. How was your Mother's Day?

To all you mother hens out there.....

Happy Mother's Day to all you mother hens!

Here's my WND column for the weekend, entitled "Is it Mother's Day -- or Woman's Day?" (with the obligatory troll in the comments section).

In celebration of our own Mother's Day, we have a hen setting, the first one of the year.

She started out with only two eggs, so I shoved five more under her.

With the proclivity of this breed to go broody, I expect we'll have at least a few more sitting on eggs as the summer progresses. A sustainable breed -- gotta love it.

(UPDATE: Broken link fixed; thank you!)

Why Father's Day is really about mothers

Here's my WND column for this weekend entitled Why Father's Day is Really About Mothers.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!

UPDATE: Reader Dave posted a beautiful column at this link. Well worth reading.

Happy Mother's Day

To all moms out there, Happy Mother's Day!

We never do anything special on Mother's Day (or Father's Day, for that matter). We just continue to go about our ordinary business.

But something trivial happened recently which, when I stopped to think about it, was rather profound.

I saw Younger Daughter looking out the west window near sunset. "What are you looking at?" I asked her.

"The way the setting sun is shining through the dandelions," she replied.

I looked out the window and realized she was right. Backlit by the setting sun, these humble tufts of seeding flowers were indescribably beautiful. Yet most of the time, few of us would give them a second glance.

The mothers we admire the most are like dandelions -- humble and unobtrusive, ordinary and common, just living their lives and asking very little in return. Very often we take them for granted. Yet once in awhile it takes a setting sun to turn them into things of indescribable beauty.

Our closest neighbor lost her mother this morning. Yes, her mother passed away on Mother's Day. It was not unexpected -- the older woman had been ill for quite some time -- but I'm certain the poignancy isn't lost on our neighbor as she mourns the woman who gave her life.

To those of us fortunate enough to have mothers still living, let's give them a little "backlit sunshine" today and remember their beauty. To those who have lost their mothers, let's be thankful for what we had and try to pass a good legacy on to our own children so that someday they, too, will rise and call us blessed.

Tragic piece of journalism

A friend sent me a link to an article called Parents' Worst Nightmare: Kids Are Jealous of 'Teen Mom' Stars. My friend called it a tragic piece of journalism.

It seems there are reality TV shows depicting teenage mothers and what their lives are like. We don't have television reception so I was unaware of this genre of reality programs.

Apparently the shows were filmed as cautionary tales against teen pregnancy. However a study found -- what a surprise! -- that "young fans of these two series are shockingly envious of the shows' stars." The reason, apparently, is because these teen moms "have an enviable quality of life; high incomes; supportive, loyal romantic partners; and children who are cared for well."

Even though the shows are supposed to be "cautionary," impressionable viewers doubtless get these reality teens mixed up with single celebrity moms who "have the time, money, and hired help to squeeze in red-carpet appearances, European vacations, date nights and parenting duties."

I hate to break it to teens, but motherhood -- especially single motherhood before you're 18 -- bears absolutely no resemblance to Hollywood moms. In other words, reality trumps reality shows.

The article states, "What could possibly be enviable about the lives of single, teenage mothers? Let's see. Janelle Evans, 21, mother of a 16-month-old son has battled a heroin addiction and has multiple arrests under her belt. In 2010, she lost custody of her son, and she is currently pregnant with her second child. Farrah Abraham, a 22-year-old with a 3-year-old daughter, made a sex tape with porn star James Deen and is now starring on VH1's "Couples Therapy." And Amber Portwood, 24, mother of a 4-year-old daughter, was arrested for domestic violence in 2010 after beating her child's father in front of the little girl. She recently admitted to Us Weekly that she was high on drugs for most of the filming."

I wonder if any of this misbehavior was documented on the show?

My friend who sent me this link confirmed these dire statistics. She wrote, "One of the show's 'stars' resided a county over from our hometown. She is constantly in the news for probation violations, arrests, etc. Awful to think she is a role model for young girls. Grrrr."

Up to this point I thought the shallow writers at Yahoo handled the subject quite well. But toward the end of the article I saw this... and my jaw hit the floor:

Let's be clear: There's nothing inherently wrong with choosing to be a single mother if you're mature, responsible, and financially independent.

Okay. There's "nothing wrong" with intentionally depriving your children of a father's love. I see.

Idiots.

Moms (from the perspective of seven-year-olds)

Why did God make mothers? Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot..
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.