Yesterday was Mother’s Day, which until Saturday I was pretty sure was an event invented by the folks at Hallmark.  Then I read that the genesis of Mother’s Day was as a kind of peacenik revolution started in 1870 by some ladies who didn’t want to see a repeat of the carnage of the Civil War.  Thus another gap in my education has been revealed.

In our home yesterday this is how our mom-in-residence was celebrated:

• My daughter Erin presented Celeste with a necklace that featured a stone she’d found in a mine during a school trip.  The trip was about a month ago and the stone was found because Erin and a friend brought their own money and decided to upgrade from the $5 bucket to the $10 bucket so they’d be guaranteed a better "find". She found what looked like a cut diamond and on the spot decided it would make a great Mother’s Day gift.  I was away on business so she emailed me to ask if I would help her get it set when I got home from my trip.  Last week we went to Davie Jewelers in Clemmons and after I was assured the stone wasn’t in fact paste (ends up it was aqua) we had it set in a white-gold pendant and bought a white-gold necklace for it to be worn on. Erin joked that she provided the labor while I provided the capital.  That girl’s going places…she already knows in business you only risk other people’s money!  Of course Celeste was moved to tears.
• Our youngest, Justin, hopped out of bed and decided to wake his mom up by presenting her with a card he’d made at school.  Actually it was more like a booklet made from a brown kraft paper gift bag and some linen-like paper.  Each page had a reason that Justin appreciated Celeste and of course that moved Celeste to tears as well.  My personal favorite was page 5.  At the top it says "You take care of me when I’m sick" and then in the middle Justin drew a picture of a note from the school.  The note says "Note from the school.  Your child has:" and then it gives the following choices:

A. Thrown Up
B. Something Else

And then there’s an entry that has been erased, but is still faintly legible:

C. Died

Ah, the value of a good editor.

• Proving that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree my oldest son woke up and was oblivious to the fact that it was Mother’s Day until his sister told him what she’d done for their Mom.  Quick as a flash he hunted Celeste down to give her a hug and a heart felt "Happy Mother’s Day" while we exchanged that look known to men everywhere, that "Holy crap I almost forgot" look tinged with the "I’m sure she’s fine just knowing I love her, and she doesn’t need a gift to tell her that" gleam in the eye.  I also suspected a hint of "Dad you hung me out to dry" in his look, but I can’t be sure.
• Me, with my 40 years of practice dealing with Mother’s Day, came through with a nice dinner out at New Town Bistro.  This was planned while sitting in the Lowe’s Hardware parking lot after we spent a couple of hours pricing out potential materials for a basement renovation project we’re planning.  Just color me romantic!  I was feeling pretty good about things until I remembered that this is the same woman who got me a large screen TV for Father’s Day a few years back.  And I come up with…dinner?

Yep, it was a pretty typical Mother’s Day in our house.