Sunday turned out to be a quietly wonderful Mother’s Day—unconventional, but exactly what I needed. The weekend felt like an extended celebration: we visited the farmer’s market and enjoyed the Bon Air parade and festival with Clara and John on Saturday (Burger, who’s afraid of firetrucks and loud noises, wisely skipped the parade). On Sunday morning I was woken by Clara holding a handmade card—scribbled all over with crayons and impossibly sweet—along with cards from John and Burger. John also presented a printed story titled “The Tale Of Sherry’s First Mother’s Day,” which explained how he tracked down a pair of gold Calypso-for-Target dangly earrings I’d been admiring. When those were sold out, he checked my Pinterest boards and found another pair I loved, ordered them from Etsy, and included a photo of them in the printout. I adore the new lemon-like earrings—they remind me of our wedding day and I loved that John looked to my Pinterest to find something I’d been coveting.
The earrings didn’t arrive in time to hand to me in person, but the gesture was perfect. John also told me he’d booked a Mother’s Day massage for me to continue the lovely tradition he started last year when I was huge and craving prenatal massage relief. He let me pick the appointment date (so I could spend Mother’s Day with Clara), which was so thoughtful. Thank you, honey, for the pampering and the beautiful baubles.
After our morning card-and-gift celebration, we went to Einstein Bagels—one of my favorite breakfast spots. I had an asparagus and mushroom flatbread sandwich (on sale with a coupon) that was unbelievably good. John and Clara shared a muffin and a coffee cake. Back home, Clara took a nap while John headed out to keep working on the patio. He planned to work for a couple of hours, then shower and spend the rest of the day with us. I settled on Karl the Sectional with some reality TV (Pregnant in Heels) while John got to work.
About two hours into Project Patio it became clear the job would take longer than planned. Rather than interrupt the progress, I decided the best way to spend the day was to play with Clara while John finished the pavers—after all, what mom doesn’t want a new patio for Mother’s Day? Clara and I played with blocks, puzzles, and crayons, had lunch, brought John granola bars, and practiced assisted walking so he wouldn’t miss any real first steps. We even spent some time outside on the partially finished patio while John worked in the background.
Burger was happy to join the fun, and it was sweet to see both “the kids” enjoying the new space before it was fully complete.
After roughly eight hours of hard work, John had cut all the edge pavers and nearly finished the patio—he planned to fill the joints with sand the next day. We had just enough time to enjoy a family dinner of Five Guys burgers, put Clara to bed, and relax on the sofa. John wrote the post for Monday morning while we watched an excessively long episode of The Apprentice. All in all, it was the best Mother’s Day: thoughtful gifts, family time, a little relaxation, and the start of a beautiful new patio to enjoy together.