A really good Mother's Day

Today was a really good Mother's Day. Mother's Day normally stinks around here at home. To give a little background... almost 10 years ago my Mom passed away. Since then, Mother's Day for me has been a little rough. It's gotten better through the years...today was a day for me to reflect a little and I was thankful for my Mom. I miss her a lot...but I had sweet memories...except for one. When I was a kid I wore suits to church. It was a time when you dressed up for church. Every Mother's Day I would go outside and pick a red rose from the rose bush and put it on my lapel. The red rose signified that my mother was alive. A white flower symbolized that your mother had passed away. (Passed away is Southern for died--I guess it's not as blunt) My Mom in her quirky way of being morbid reminded me that one day I would wear a white flower for her. Gee, thanks, Mama...I needed to know that information at age 10! Enough with the therapy session.
More background to why Mother's Day normally stinks around here. My kids had it pretty rough before they came to be a part of our family. So, Mother's Day kinda puts it in their faces that their birth Mom didn't do her part. They appreciate my wife and they call her "Mom", but it's still a tough day. A few years ago we planned to make Mother's Day a different kind of day for our kids. We make it a fun day. I teach my class on Sunday morning and then I head home and we go and do something fun. This year we went to the Georgia Aquarium and then had a cook out at home with family and friends...(friends who really are like family).
Today was a really good Mother's Day. It was a day to hang out...have fun...enjoy one another. I wasn't worked up at all and the whole family had a great day. The ending of the day was really cool. We had steaks, great desserts, and awesome "fellowship". Some of our older kids joined us and we got to see our granddaughter for the first time. Cool stuff. We all had a good day. My wife didn't dread this Mother's Day...it was a good day.