Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day 2009 has come and gone. It was delightfully sweet, sweetly bitter, and a bitter reminder.

Delightfully sweet because my little boy who is such a joy to me is home. When I came downstairs to leave for church, D had let him color on the inside of a card for me. When D asked him if that card was for Mama or for Kenson, Kenson of course said "Tenson". (Which is what he calls himself.) He was also quite proud of his coloring efforts and quickly told me "Tenson colored." D got me the book, The Love Dare with hopes of us doing it together this summer.

Sweetly bitter because D's mom was not here to share it with us. There have been many times since Kenson came home where I have thought "If Sheila were here..." Today, just because of the nature of the day, is one of those days. It's one of those days where you watch silently as your spouse grieves the hole that such a loss brings, where your touch and presence seem woefully inadequate.

And a bitter reminder of a little girl still in Haiti. A little girl who I often feels like gets swept under the rug because of all the adjustments and transitions that have happened in our family. But despite the differences in the way this wait has played out, I still long for the day that that little girl sees me walk in the room and with a full smile says "Mama!" So Conleigh Deme, you were a part of this Mother's Day too, an absent yet present spirit in my heart.