Mother's Day

I'm the worst at acknowledging my gratitude for my mother. I think I've always just figured that giving me life and keeping me alive were just things that she wanted to do and that I've never cramped her style. Being a mother myself now makes me realize just what a sacrifice it is to bring children into this world. I also understand that a mother's unconditional love is a teensy bit conditional--kids are easier to love when they are well-fed, well-rested, and well-cleaned. Kudos to my mom for never letting on that sometimes she really must not have liked me at all. Despite the fact that we now live so far apart and become more and more different as our lives continue down divergent courses, I can't imagine having a different mother throughout my growing up years. She'll always be one of those moms who feels like a close friend. I love you, Mom!

I also love my mother-in-law. I was realizing the other day just how grateful I am to her for raising such a good man and father to Camilla. I really owe her a lot. Maybe it hit me because I hope there is a mother out there somewhere who will raise a good man for Camilla to marry someday. And I'm really glad she's not one of those mother-in-laws who makes me feel like she'll never think I'm good enough for her son. Both of my mothers make me feel like I'm special and important and that I don't need to be anybody that I'm not.

Mother's Day was gorgeous in Ithaca. We took Camilla to the park to feed the ducks for the first time. I gave her a piece of bread to throw to them. She promptly ate it. So I guess we'll wait a while longer before trying that again. However, I saw something really sweet that seemed appropriate for Mother's Day. Once they realized we had bread, the fowls started flocking to us. Or maybe it was just two ducks, two geese, and four seagulls. It was windy and I kept trying to get a piece of bread to the mallard before the geese or seagulls could snatch it away. Even if I got them close to him, he sort of ignored the pieces of bread. Why come over if you don't want the food? All of a sudden, I realized what he was doing. He was trying to let his woman get the bread, and didn't take any for himself. When she'd had enough, they swam away together. She was probably the mother of his ducklings and decided for Mother's Day to let her have all of the good stuff while he had to eat bugs.