I was dropping off Emmy in the three year old room for MOPS when one of the mentor moms came up to me. “Oh,” she said as she enveloped me in a big mama bear hug, “I’ve been thinking about you this week!”

It was the week before Mother’s Day, and she had seen some Mother’s Day cards. Looking at them, she thought about how she hasn’t needed to buy a Mother’s Day card for several years now, and it still was hard. She thought about me losing my mom just a year and a half ago.

Oh, how I needed that hug! I needed that hug more than I even knew.

That Friday, Lily woke up with a fever. As the morning wore on, her temperature slowly went higher even after I gave her some Tylenol. She lay limply on the couch, not wanting to move. She wasn’t eating or drinking much. As I carried her from the TV room to the living room she told me she didn’t feel well, and then promptly threw up. It was barely anything to clean up since her stomach was empty, but I put a big bowl by her place on the couch and called the doctor.

Both Lily and her sister had had strep throat twice in April, so her doctor and I were relieved when the strep test was negative. I was to treat her symptoms at home and call if she got worse.

Saturday, Lily continued to have a fever and curled up in her favorite chair. Unused to seeing our vibrant child so inactive, Ed decided to entertain her. He danced and sang around the room, making us all laugh, even Lily. And then…he stepped back, landed on one foot right on the throw-up bowl (empty of contents) and fell hard. His ankle swelled instantly.

Fortunately, Ed’s sister happened to call a few minutes later, and I asked her to take Ed to the immediate care center by us. In one short hour he was home, no broken bones but a bad sprain.

We decided to cancel Mother’s Day.

Okay, that’s not really true. We just canceled the reservations at the fancy brunch we had planned on going to. I still took Emmy to church and sang in the choir that morning, ordering Lily (still feverish) and Ed to rest. The youth group gave all mothers a beautiful rose, and by the time Emmy and I got home, Lily was feeling better. So we went off for a low-key Mother’s Day lunch at Steak ‘n Shake.

That quick lunch wore out Lily, and her fever came back that afternoon. She rested, and I cried. I worried about Ed’s ankle, which kept him off his feet for most of the day. I wanted to call my mom.

But she is gone.

Instead, I got a phone call from my sister, who was also missing Mom.

By the end of the day, I was just grateful for all my blessings. Lily was feeling better (I kept her home from school for one more day; her fever went away and she is back to normal) and Ed’s ankle was not broken.

My thoughts went to the mentor mom who gave me a hug, who was also missing her mom on this day. I was grateful for that simple hug; grateful that someone else remembered that Mother’s Day would be difficult.