Here’s what I want my Mother’s Day to look like:

Wake up in a quiet space with no people around me

Lay in bed and read

Mimosa and french toast delivery

Get a massage

Go shopping

Lunch with unlimited wine (maybe with friends, not with family)

Catch up on Real Housewives

Unlimited dark chocolate consumption

Nap

Vodka gimlet happy hour with girlfriends

Date night with husband

I don’t want to:

Prepare any meals or snacks

Think about what the hell is for dinner

Do laundry

Do dishes

Empty the dishwasher

Go grocery shopping

I don’t want to negotiate:

How many bites of breakfast

Or lunch

Or dinner

How many minutes till naptime

What toys can come in the car

What toys can come in bed

What toys can go to school

How cracked the door is at bedtime

Is tonight bath night

Do we have to wash hair

Is mommy or daddy reading stories

I don’t want to look for:

The missing tiny, clear lego piece

The random toy someone gave us two years ago that is suddenly of the utmost significance

The beloved soccer shirt that must be worn everyday

I also don’t want to:

Pack a school lunch

Cut your bread the wrong way

Give you the wrong cup

Or the wrong spoon

Or the wrong napkin.

Oh, and I really don’t want to clean pee off the wall or poop off your bum – or the toilet seat, or the leg of your pants.

Furthermore, I don’t want to feed the dog, smell the dog, let the dog out, keep the kid from yanking the dog’s tail, or clean the dog’s diarrhea off the heated floors

The best gift you could give me is a day alone. A day where I would do everything I never get to do on my own timeline.

BUT, here’s what would happen… I would look at pictures of you. I would watch the video of your first bath. I would watch the video of you crawling on the beach and squawking like a seagull when you were 10 months old. I would watch the video of your first steps at Lala’s house, chasing a piece of cheese. I would look at that picture of us on the ferry to Nantucket where your hair is blowing in the wind and you are filled with bliss. I would look at the picture of you on your first day of preschool, filled with concern and cuteness. I would look at the picture of you this Christmas when you realized that the Santa dude brings PRESENTS. I would look at the picture of you laughing with your dad that I just took a couple weeks ago.

I would be away from you and all I would want is to be with you. Because that’s how it works, isn’t it? I need you as much as you need me.

So, we will spend mother’s day together. There will likely be some epic meltdowns, because history tells me that Mother’s Day is when those are most likely to happen. There might be a time out or two (for me, if not for you).

There will be wine and chocolate – but probably not in unlimited quantities, because I will want to be the one to read you bedtime stories and share your final snuggle of the day.

To all you mamas out there who want Mother’s Day to be about NOT being a mom for 24 hours, I HEAR you. And I raise a glass to you.

Being a mother to my Vinnie is the honor of a lifetime – although it usually doesn’t feel that way. But there are moments when it strikes me over the head – like the few times we have had to go to Seattle Children’s Hospital for little things and I have to hold back tears walking through the hospital doors because I am acutely aware that some kids walk though these doors and they never walk out.

I get to me someone’s mom. It is a job I will fail at miserably. But in spite of that it will always be my biggest and more proud accomplishment.

No matter what you do today, know that you are someone’s most special person. How lucky are you?? Happy Mother’s Day Shameless Moms.

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