I am woken by my very excited children; ready to give me breakfast in bed and some presents for Mother’s Day. After breakfast my son climbs in bed for a snuggle.
“Why don’t you get a book for us to read together?” I say.
He comes back with ‘Where’s Kiwi Celebrating?’, which is basically a New Zealand version of Where’s Wally/Waldo, and we go cross-eyed trying to find all the characters. They are definitely not the books for you if you have an eyesight problem!
Like many mums, I had bought my own gift. Not because Rev G is useless, but this year it was because I was ordering things for our homeschool anyway and we may as well save on postage. I bought myself a ‘new’ Sherlock Homes book (a homage, or pastiche book by a modern author), and am looking forward to getting stuck into it. It looks pretty decent.
My Mother’s Day morning is so much like the ones I remember for my own mother. Beautiful, handmade cards. My son’s reads: Mum To Daniel From. Adorable, he’s only five, and getting the words in order isn’t exactly a priority when you are five. The children wrap some of their own things to give to me: I get some Transformers to play with, and a necklace and two pencils. I am given a small box of chocolates, which the children are almost drooling on as they pass it to me – so naturally they get the lion’s share when the box is opened.
The rest of the day is lovely too. Church is well attended. I had pre-recorded a children’s talk where I do my best Suzy Cato impression. It goes over well. We are all hopeful that tomorrow we will hear the country is moving into Level Two on Thursday. Almost everyone in the congregation plans to return to worshipping together if that happens. They are eager to see each other again.
I had ordered my own mother’s gift back in March before lockdown and it has not arrived. I get some supermarket treats delivered instead, and she is thrilled to discover it includes some neenish tarts – her favourites. I am relieved that everything in the order is actually included as Whanganui supermarkets seem to be particularly bad for having things in stock. I hear similar reports from other friends in different parts of Wellington too, but our local supermarkets have managed to have almost everything in stock.
Rev G and the kids visit Rev G’s step-mum. Rev G’s father passed away almost a year ago now, and she is lonely rattling around in their big house on her own. Her loss has only been exacerbated by lockdown. I don’t go with the others, only because I had already arranged an online catch-up with a friend, but I am looking forward to seeing my MiL soon.
I spend some quiet time sitting in the sun, reading my new book, thinking this is just what I wanted for Mother’s Day.