Mother's Day

Something magical about this day, I have to admit.

I try to not buy into the "Hallmark Holidays" (Valentines day, Secretaries day, Grandparents day, Pet day) Holidays that I feel were made up to generate overly-priced card and flower sales. But Mother's Day? Yes - I'll take it! Not for the Hallmark cards and store bought flowers - but for the simplest moments of love and grace. 

Some moments I want to remember today: 

Norah waking up at 3am (thinking it was morning) and asking me as she sleepily heads down stairs 'Mommy, are you hungry yet?"  

Norah waking up at 6am and asking me "Mommy, are you hungry yet?"

Eating my blueberry muffin in bed at 6:04am with Norah snuggling by my side

Homemade cards made with love 

Lots of hugs and kisses 

A sunny, warm morning - forsythias in bloom!

Coffe on my porch in the spring sunshine

A phone call to my mama

 French toast made by Caleb with butter and warm maple syrup

A Skype session with Emma (far away in Potsdam)

Lots of help in my gardens - with more hugs and kisses

A mud pie 

A walk with Norah picking dandelions

Beehives!  

(Not really part of my mother's day gift - but delightful just the same)

Flowers from a friend who biked up the hill today

An amazing and satisfying dinner made by my husband 

Enjoyed with family close (and friend)

Sitting on the porch at sunset, listening to bobolinks singing their funny R2D2 song and watching them joyfully swoop in the field 

And look at this! The hills are turning green again - spring is here to stay!

Small moments, yes. A string of moments that make up a day. This space, this blog, gives me an opportunity to absorb and assimilate some of these small moments, lest I forget. It's like sitting in a rocking chair on the porch at the end of the day - any day! - when all the work is done. Reflecting on all of the little gifts you've been given without expectation. Receiving them. Saying thank you. 

"Journal-keepers are creating a life-long record of their encounters. The habit of granting each day its singularity lays the groundwork for seeing into the hidden seasons, and seasons-within-seasons. The seasons, and thousands of other things that move us, reveal themselves in unmeasurable phenomena, like Thoreau’s “sheeny light” on the bent grass in the meadows."

Today was a good day

Lest I forget.

~ j

Right now  I am:

-Listening to the rain and the first distant thunderstorm of the season.

- Happy to have the windows wide open - to have slept last night to a symphony of peepers, coyotes and wind.

- Enjoying the field of green I see outside my window. 

- Loving this Wyeth-esque view from an upstairs window.

- Wearing my first summer dress of the year.

- Smelling the corn muffins Norah is baking (made them all by herself!)- and thinking about how good they will taste with some mint tea.

- Noticing how pretty those eggs in my egg basket are - in abundance now that the days are longer!

- Enjoying this Mother's Day gift made of construction paper, Elmers Glue, and 2nd grade sweetness.

- Realizing my construction paper and Elmers Glue Mother's Day gifts will be coming to an end in a couple of years.

- Remembering all the mommies in my life: the amazing circle of woman whom I learn from and lean on and am inspired by every day.  

- Thinking about my own mama - my grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, and great-great grandmothers.

 -Grateful that they loved and brought me here.

~ j