I remember taking Christina to the Norman Rockwell Museum. Decades later we saw his best work brought to this area for a temporary exhibit. Over 100,000 visitors came to see the originals, which we once took for granted, often displayed on covers of the Saturday Evening Post, mailed to our home each week.
Mother's Day is so well promoted that no one can miss the upcoming event. I can also add a simple and undebatable fact - mothers, step-mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers enjoy the recognition, the expressions of thankfulness, and tokens of love.
Years ago, I started our rose garden with some hybrid teas and Knockouts, the later prolific in flower production. I stealthily plotted a way to unite the neighborhood with a rose on each doorstep, early Sunday morning.
Ranger Bob said, "There was a rose on my door. Yours?"
I responded, "How many roses are growing on this cul-de-sac? It was Mother's Day."
He said, "I am not a mother."
I said, "But you had a mother, and this is in recognition of her, in memory and honor of her, for putting up with you and your brother." He teared up a bit, because he adored his mother, and remembered how much she did for her children.
The mother of four daughters got a cup with four roses. Every house received one or more roses.
Facebook friends reminded me of this simple truth - "I would give anything to have 10 minutes with my mother again." That is the great mystery, how we go from taking that time and that love for granted and suddenly realizing the opportunity has moved to another realm and time.
I suspect that Heaven has many more faithful mothers than grateful children. But it is not too late to make this Sunday very special for mothers, step-mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. Often the smallest token has the greatest value, and time together is the greatest gift of all.
