Here is a great Mother's Day card I received this weekend. The pictures are definitely cute with butterflies and flowers - a running theme among all her artwork; the princesses, mermaids and friends from school are noticeably

The pink form is a sample of "kid writing" that both of her KG programs are encouraging. Children are supposed to write the words phonetically. Whatever they spell is acceptable and it gives them a chance to work freely on their letters. I asked her to read it aloud for me.

My Mother
My mom is 26 years old.
(hey, this is creative writing..not math. So, she's off by 10, but I'm happy!)

My mom's favorite color is blue
(don't have a particular favorite color, so this works)

My mom's favorite food is salmon
(We had salmon at my sister's and we all enjoyed it. Just recently she saw me eat fish, as I'm a vegetarian)

My mom likes to swim and cooking
(I'm not a big swimmer, but we spent some time in the pool together and had a lot of fun!)

My mom is special
(Just to hear her read that to me was wonderful)

My mom is good
(Whew! So all those "bad mother" moments have been forgotten!)

I have to add that I didn't see the importance of Mother's Day until I became one. I remember dubbing it a "Hallmark holiday" when I was in my 20's and frantically searching for gifts.

Now, I understand why my parents always refused the extravagant gifts we wanted to give them. There is no way a child can repay his/her parents for what they've done. These tokens of appreciation make you happy as a parent and ensure you that you are on the right track.

Until I became a parent, I did not realize how much hard work it was. Being a father is demanding, but women make more silent sacrifices. We know if we don't do it for our children, no one else will.

My girlfriends and I celebrated Mother's Day with a spa day this weekend. One friend had her husband and family babysitting her little girl for the day. She still received numerous phone calls. It struck me that in her situation 5 adults could not take over the job of 1 mother for one day. No one realizes her contributions until she is absent.

To all the mothers, you are remembered!