My Perfect Mother's Day

I had a very pleasant Mother's Day.

I got a nice card from my in-laws.

I got some roses from my sister-in-law.

No other gifts.

I have to admit, most any other year and I might be kind of upset that I didn't have a special Mother's Day.  Other years, I would have expected cards, flowers, a day planned just for me.

But this year, I didn't want or need any of that stuff.

I've had my Mother's Day for the past few months.  Even longer.

My family has been extremely patient and understanding about my running.  My kids have been proud of me, curious about what I'm doing and why.  My husband has been encouraging and hasn't complained about me running off (literally) for training and various events while he stays home with our kids. 

During that half marathon on Saturday, he texted me to tell me what he and the kids were seeing on TV (local channels carried coverage of the entire event).  Milestone times were auto-posted to Facebook during the event so he saw immediately when I crossed the finish line and sent me a congratulatory text and had the kids make a video for me. 

Feeling proud of myself feels awesome.  A year ago, when I was training for my first 5K, I couldn't imagine running an entire mile and still had days when I thought 5K was unachievable.  Now, 3.1 miles is a regular workout.  I completed a half marathon and am incredibly proud of the battles I fought and won.

My husband and kids being proud of me?  Now that's an even more amazing feeling.  Knowing that they appreciate my hard work, that they have suffered my complaining, that they have dealt with my absences, and that they now celebrate with me...

That's the best Mother's Day present I could possibly hope to get.

I had a wonderful day.  I took the kids to church (they now like to go to both services with me on the Sundays that I sing with our music team) and Jeff came for second service.  We had lunch with my in-laws and it was great to spend a few hours with family that we don't see as often as we'd like.  We came home and did laundry, shampooed a couple spots on the carpet, and then I took the kids to the park while Jeff worked on some home projects.

My son held my hand.

My daughter talked about running the entire way- kept asking if this is how I run or if she can run as fast as me.

They played for a while and we walked home. 

Jeff went to pick up dinner for us- I stepped out of my typical food fare and went for McDonald's.  I even splurged and had a Big Mac instead of a salad. 

While he was gone, the kids put bandages on my blisters.  I told them each the stories of how they got their nicknames.  And then we sang songs.  We sang the songs I used to sing over and over to Teagan when she was basically inconsolable and one of the few things that calmed her was singing.  Daddy would sing "I'm a little teapot" and I would sing "Stewball."  We'd sing together- "I've been working on the railroad."  Christy and I spent one night in my living room singing "Clementine" over and over and over. 

I then told the kids that I had a special song for each of them as babies... a song I sang just for them when they were born and that was my specially chosen lullaby.

Zach sat in my lap and grinned in my face before snuggling up while I sang "Baby's Song" to him.  Teagan held me arm and sang along to "Dream A Little Dream."

It was a moment I'll treasure forever.  And no card or breakfast in bed or pot of flowers can ever come close to those precious memories or to the actions of my family over the past months.

So how was my Mother's Day?

It was perfect.