We forget that moms are usually easy to please. No matter how old we get, most moms are thrilled just to go to the bathroom in private or to hear someone say the words “I’ll wash the dishes.”
Your mom will act like she loves whatever you wrap up in a package for her, but if you REALLY want to make mom’s day, just tell her a thing or three:
- Tell her she’s a good mom. (Use examples.)
- Tell her you heard her when she wasn’t yelling. (Use examples.)
- Tell her she’s still cool. (Use examples.)
And by ‘tell’ her, I mean write it down in a letter or maybe post it on your blog. Let me demonstrate with a letter to my own amazing mom.
Dear Mom,
I know you had your hands full with six of us kids, a full-time job, and the rent wolf at the door. Still, you did a masterful job of making us all feel safe, loved and resilient. Today as I release my own two grown children, I know more than ever that you were a great mom to little kids, and you’re a great mom to grown-up people.
Whether you knew it or not, Mom, I heard most everything you said. Sometimes you weren’t talking directly to me, and sometimes you weren’t even talking. But I heard how to be a good person and how to make my dreams come true. You told me to do the right thing, to protect my spirit and to keep an open mind. You told me to make things, to take care of things and to fix things when they were broken. I thought about this recently when I fixed a toilet at my friend’s house. I don’t remember you teaching me how to fix a toilet, but I remember that broken toilets always got fixed when you got home from work. So even though you never said it, I heard “things break; you’re smart enough to fix them.”
I love how you still make things and how you still have the curiosity and confidence to discover new things. I love that you don’t keep score or go places you don’t want to go. I think it’s cool that you like interesting old things but that you know the difference between collecting and hoarding.
The poem you wrote for my college graduation proved to me that words well-written are the best kind of gift. See what you started?
Happy Mother’s Day.
Love,
Becky
By Becky Blades, author and illustrator of DO YOUR LAUNDRY OR YOU’LL DIE ALONE: ADVICE YOUR MOM WOULD GIVE IF SHE THOUGHT YOU WERE LISTENING
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Becky Blades, Author of Do Your Laundry or You’ll Die Alone, and contributor to Huffington Post, Oprah.com, Scary Mommy, and Grown & Flown.
