Mother's Day 2008

When Rylie asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day this year, I told her jokingly that I wanted a back massage and someone to come and clean my house. That definitely would be nice, right? Since I knew that Nathan was in Alabama this year I knew that the kids were on their own with trying to make this a nice day for me, which was fine, but I knew it would be interesting. Anyhow, after I told Rylie about my Mother's Day wishes, she informed me that her gift would be much better than that. When I woke up this morning, Rylie came downstairs with 2 gifts. One was an obvious flower in a pot...ha! and the other one looked like a CD wrapped up. I knew that she didn't have time to go shopping with anyone in order to help pick me something out, so I was curious to see what was inside. It was a CD. Only this one was had a decorated cover with her school photo on it and it was decorated by her. Inside was a list of the songs that were on there. Apparently her teacher does this every year for the mom's. I thought it was a great idea! She asked if we could listen to it, but seeing that I had just woken up, I asked her if we could wait just a few minutes until after we ate breakfast, but she insisted that we listen to just the first one. So, we did. She put the CD in the player and ran out of the room! I wasn't sure why she ran, but then I quickly discovered why. The first song wasn't a song at all, it was Rylie speaking.. She said the following:

Dear Mom,
Your the best mom in the wourld. (I'm spelling this the way she did as well!) Thanks for being there for me when I'm hurt. I will never for get all my BirthDays I've ever had with you. When I whent to camp last year on my birth Day I cood not stop crying because I missed you so much! I'm really glad your my mom! I'v really notesed that when Daddy leaves your there for me. I will always be your little girl. Thanks a lot for TRYING to help me with my homework. thanks for helping with school activitys and church activitys. thanks for ceeping me healthy. Your the best at a lot, so I'll give you 3 thinks that I like the best. one is your cooking. my faveoret thing you cook is your home made spagety, my secont faveoret thing is your really kind and sweat, my last faveoret is you can be realy funny. You make me feel good in many ways because your nice and I love you mommy. Thanks for beleving in me when I don't beleav I can do some thing. happy Mother's day. Love, Rylie

I'll admit it, I was totally crying! Following that message was the first song. As I was listening to it I knew I'd heard it before, but couldn't figure out where...and then, it hit me! It's by Boyz II Men and it's called A Song For Mama. When my Aunt Lois passed away from cancer 7 years ago (almost to the day) my cousin Luke had sang this song at her funeral. I wasn't able to be at the funeral, but when I went down later that fall, my cousin played it for me in the car when we were driving to visit her grave site. Listening to this song again today for the second time really made me realize a few things. Most years, Nathan is involved with buying my gift and saying it's from the kids. Thos have always been great things, but honestly...this year was my favorite of all years. Years from now, I will be able to sit and listen to the words that my daughter wrote herself and relayed to in a special message to me. How priceless is that? Rylie and Landon both decorated a pot at school and planted a flower just for me. I can plant those with them and look at them everyday to remember how precious these days are and how fast my kids are growing! Mother's Day is not about how much money someone spends on you or if you get breakfast in bed, or a clean house or even a massage! It's a reflection of the relationship that you have spent years forming with these blessings that God has called children. How often do I stop to think about what an amazing gift that God has entrusted in me? I get to be their mom! I get to listen to them laugh and watch them smile. I get to be their cheerleader at their games and help them learn. I get to be their friend and their teacher. And, one day, when they are older and go out into this scary world alone, I will hopefully be the one that they will still come to when they need something. And if I'm lucky enough they'll think I'm still cool enough to hang out with. I will never get these days back, but I hope that I am doing enough now to make sure that our relationship is still just as strong years from now. I can just be there for them when they need me, listen to them, pray for them, help them, hug them, care for them and make sure they know that...THEY are the best gifts that I have ever received!