Mother Appreciation Day… NOT to be confused with Mother’s Day

Mother Appreciation Day… NOT to be confused with Mother’s Day

I have the most amazing mother in the world… and pretty much anyone who knows her would agree. My parents divorced when I was very young and my mom went back to school. For years she worked on her generals and pre-requisites while working, but the Hygiene program she got into was in Rangely, Colorado, an hour and a half drive from home. So for two, long and intense years, she drove there and back everyday. 

My 3 siblings and I kept each other “in line,” when mom wasn’t home…which often led to many wrestling matches in an attempt to get each other to do our chores or homework. Despite the fights, we grew close during those years and learned to rely on one another. To this day, I’m amazed there were no major injuries or that my brothers never burnt the house down. We definitely had many angels watching out for us (many in the form of our dear neighbors and friends)!

The real miracle, however, was my mother. Her day started around 4:00 am, getting up to finish homework, get ready, prep things for our day, write us a note and be out the door by 5:30 am. Then she'd drive an hour and a half to school. After a full day of classes, labs, and study groups she’d rush home to make dinner, help us with our projects and homework, then after we were in bed, she’d be up sometimes until 1:00 am doing her homework, get a few hours of sleep then wake up and do it again. And after two years of this she even graduated with honors at the top of her class! She basically put “wonder woman” to shame!

New trials popped up everyday and, at times, I'm sure we were absolute terrors. But my siblings and I could tell when Mom was on the verge of breaking down. It was during these times that we invented “Mother Appreciation Day” (not to be confused with Mother’s Day)! It could be on any random day that we felt mom needed to know we really appreciated all that she was doing. We thrived on being sneaky with our planning preparations (it made it more exciting). We’d try to clean the house, make dinner, maybe write her a card or buy her flowers. Then when she’d walk through the door we’d yell “SURPRISE!” or “HAPPY MOTHER APPRECIATION DAY!” 

Now that I’m a mom, I realize how exhausting and thankless of a job it can be at times… and it makes me appreciate my own mom (and all the other strong women in my life). Mother’s Day is nice, but one day of gratitude just isn’t enough. It doesn’t have to be as planned or formal as what my siblings and I did for our mom back then, but there’s a million nice things we can do to show our love. A note, an afternoon of no arguments, cleaning without being asked, or even a simple “thank you.” Today I was thinking of my mother and everything she’s done for me throughout my life; always putting our needs above her own. I’m grateful to have such an amazing mother to look up to; hopefully I can be that kind of mom to my children. So this is my random “Mother Appreciation Moment” to my dear mamma! Thanks for always being there for me and for being my perfect example of the the mom I want to be. I love you so much!