What I Really Want for Mother’s Day {Spin Cycle}

A couple of weeks ago, Ed asked me a responsible husband question. What do I want for Mother’s Day?

I really needed to think about this. Ed’s usual M.O. is “secretly” taking the girls to Carson Pirie Scott on Saturday morning. They usually come back with some “beautiful” jewelry that the girls have picked out. (Their taste is slowly improving as they get older.)

I thought about telling him I didn’t want anything, but that wouldn’t quite be true. What I really want is to spend Mother’s Day without any obligations. Of course, in our lives, this isn’t possible. Our church choir always sings on Mother’s Day and I usually have to teach Sunday School. Somehow, during a rare insightful moment, I arranged for my partner to teach this Sunday so I only have to sing with the choir.

Ed is a very good son, which makes him a very good husband and father. But he likes to spend time with his family on Sundays. Another obligation.

A couple of years ago, I got out of all our obligations on Mother’s Day. Lily was running a fever all weekend long, and she sometimes throws up when she has a fever. She spent most of the weekend on the couch in our living room with a throw-up bowl next to her. Ed tried to cheer her up and started dancing. He tripped on the bowl and sprained his ankle so badly that I called his sister to take him to Immediate Care. That Mother’s Day, we canceled all our plans and when Lily started feeling better, we ended up at Steak ‘n Shake. I certainly don’t want another Mother’s Day like that one!

I supposed I need to give up the idea of having no obligations. I get breakfast in bed (remind me to go buy bagels and cream cheese on Saturday) and I have two beautiful daughters who wake me up early to give me breakfast in bed. I have a loving husband who responsibly takes care of his obligations.

So I’ll tell you what I told Ed.

Back when I was in college, I bought a demin jacket. At the time, I thought it was amazing. However, it was the early 90’s and this jacket was very fashionable. The denim was acid-washed and the jacket was baggy. It did not hold up to the test of time. Pretty soon, my jacket was not fashionable and I began to wish that I had an ordinary, regular fit denim jacket.

Now that denim jackets seem to be coming back into style, I want an ordinary, regular fit denim jacket.

That shouldn’t be too hard to find on the Saturday morning before Mother’s Day, should it?

Spin Cycle at Second Blooming

What do you really want to get for Mother’s Day? Or, if you could give your mother anything for Mother’s day, what would it be? Link up your post below, and don’t forget to visit my co-host Gretchen at Second Blooming!



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Happy May Day! {Spin Cycle}

May Day used to be the original Ding Dong Ditch but with happier consequences. When my sister and I were little girls, we would make May Day baskets with my mom. These little baskets were very simple and easy to made. First, we made a cone out of paper; we used paper doilies or pretty wrapping paper. Then we attached a ribbon to the cone as a hanger. A bag of popcorn would go in first, and then we would run around the yard picking flowers to go into our basket. Little purple violets and while lilies of the valley were usually what we picked on that first day of May. Off to the neighbors’ houses we would go, to hang our little baskets on their doorknobs. Ding Dong!

Clara Burd

It doesn’t seem like May Day gets much attention these days. It’s a simple holiday, and perhaps is overlooked because of its simplicity. Often, May Day is skipped and all the attention goes straight to Mother’s Day. I have more memories of my mom on May Day, however. She loved giving, she loved flowers…and she loved popcorn. Silly to bring up, perhaps, but it’s true!

Popcorn. Another favorite memory I have of Mom is Sunday supper. We had been busy all morning at church and she would make a big Sunday dinner, such as pot roast with carrots and potatoes. Sunday night was a time to relax. Mom would make popcorn on the stove and add tons of melted butter and salt. We would eat our popcorn with apples and milk while watching the family movie on TV. It was one of the only times we were allowed to eat supper in front of the television.

Popcorn has a long history, and to include it in May baskets is an interesting custom in the United States. Popcorn may have been a symbol of fertility, and May Day actually has quite pagan roots over in Europe. There were many rituals surrounding May Day in the past involving fertility, the beginning of summer, and love. The Fairy Queen may come out and lure you away for seven years before allowing you to return.

Halloween is a festival of death, a time for letting go and mourning. May Day, on the opposite side of the Wheel of the Year, is about life, about falling in love and frolicking in the woods. Death is an ending but also a beginning. ~Celebrating May Day

Death is an ending but also a beginning. Remembering my mom on May Day is much more authentic to my mother’s personality than Mother’s Day is.

In England, May Day included dances and mummers’ plays to encourage the growth of crops. I’m including a special video for my dad, who always includes rain for the farmers in his prayers: Loreena McKennitt’s The Mummers’ Dance. Happy May Day, Dad!

 

 
Link up your May posts here or at my co-host Gretchen’s! Please go visit other spinners to tell them Happy May!

Spin Cycle at Second Blooming



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