>I’m not big on relationships. I’ve never understood them, unless they are with something reliable, something like TIVO. So around February 14th when everyone complains about how trite Valentine’s day has become, I hardly pay attention. I figure if you made your bed you can sleep in it. The issue I have is with Mother’s Day.
Now before you get all up tight in your office chair or stressed in your cozy couch in Starbucks, hear me out. I love my mom. She rocks, really she does. And, no I’m not saying this cause I know she’ll read this. My mom and I are good. She lives far away and sends me gifts on my birthday. That makes her all good in my books.
But yesterday when I was in Shoppers trying to find a good mother’s day card, it hit me. Mother’s Day is my Valentine’s day….wait, that sounded creepier than I wanted it to. I just mean that it is so silly. Just because someone somewhere decided that Moms don’t get enough love, we have to send them cards and tell them we love them. Shouldn’t we do that anyway? Or at the very least send them an e-mail every now and then and tell them that we miss their cooking and remind them how much we like care packages.
The other issue that comes with Mother’s Day is the competition. You wouldn’t think it, but this day has become very stressful. If you have siblings that are all sending your mom cards and gifts, you don’t want to not send something, or something that pales in comparison to the 24 long stem roses that your sister will send, or the concert tickets your brother will. It’s all just too much. How do you compete? At one point, I even thought about sending my mom a note saying instead of buying your gift, I decided to pay rent. Surely the thought of her son not moving into the homeless shelter would give her the same feeling a big bouquet would.
So in the end I bought my mom a nice card and a gift card to one of her favorite places. I know she’ll love it and, because she is who she is, she’ll probably share it. But I can’t help wish that we didn’t have these made up holidays. I wish that we didn’t feel like we had to prove something to someone every month. But I’ll play along, I’ll buy the cards and gift certificates, but when Hallmark invents a TIVO day is when I call it quits!
Love ya Mom
