Mother's Day

I had no idea about the general goodness of people when it comes to Mother's Day and new mothers in particular. I received jewelry (Thank you Jason and Jackson), flowers (Thank you Carolyn), a card suggesting Mother's Day was a day of rest (From my Mother), and a card suggesting it should really be a day for drinking (After a couple of weeks with a newborn, I agree. Thanks Nicole). But there is also the goodwill of the public, perfect strangers. Two teenage boys in the drugstore on Tuesday stopped me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. I was startled. Teenage boys aren't generally known for random acts of kindness. I'm generally quite suspect of teenage boys who stop me to say something, I'll have to be less suspicious in the future. And then there are the people you bump into who want to say that their babies are 7 or 15, or granduating college now. Last week, someone came up to me in the parking lot and offered to take my cart up to the store front for me. That was really nice! Plus it saved me from being one of those people, since I wasn't going to leave my baby in the carseat on a hot day to walk the cart up myself. (OK, it saved me from being one of those people again, since I've started abandoning the carts as a rule if the cart return isn't in the next stall).

For my own gesture of goodwill, I'm taking back the snarky remarks I've made in the past about the women I know who when I ask what they do, they answer "I'm a mom". This response has always infuriated me, and I generally wait for them to continue or try to prod something more out of them. I'm changing my attitude. Sure, billions of people have shared in the same task and it may be a bit of a repetitive accomplishment. But its still hard. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!