So, How Was Your Mother's Day?

Allergies turned my son into the Amazing Snot Monster, spewing ropes of mucous at church and spitting out gobs of gunk on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. My daughter, during dinner, made sure to mention that I'm not her Real Mother because she's adopted, duh. Mother's Day had its moments, as it always does.

But by and large, it was a nice day. I got some cards. I ate some Mexican food. I had lots of time to sit quietly and read. The book, The Elephant in the Playroom, is one I'll be reviewing this Friday. It's full of stories by parents about the challenges and struggles and sometimes joys of raising kids with special needs. It's a good collection to read on a day like Mother's Day, because some of the stories make you feel like somebody understands, and some of the stories make you feel like, "Phew, my kid may call me out for being unreal in a restaurant, but at least things aren't this bad."

I finished off the evening watching Brothers & Sisters, the ABC drama about a family of adult siblings mothered by Sally Field. The show has taken on special-needs topics before, with the diagnosis of one grandchild with diabetes. On last night's episode, two more grandchildren were born, premature twins, one with severe kidney problems. The parents were called upon to decide, quickly, whether they wanted to risk the healthy twin's life by using her as a kidney donor, or whether they could let the struggling twin go. They went with the latter choice, and dealt with the contradictions of celebrating one new life while mourning another. (If you missed the episode and want to watch it, you can view it online at ABC.com)

Nothing like a dying baby plot to put things in perspective. My kids may be trying sometimes, but they're healthy, and they're here. Although certainly, my daughter's got some teen issues going on around adoption, compounded by learning and language difficulties that make processing abstractions tricky (and knowing when to bring tough subjects up, too). And the Snot Monster is still raging today, according to the phone call I just got from my son's teacher. If they're going to say no snot at school, I'm, what, supposed to homeschool him through the end of allergy season? Perhaps the occupational therapist could work on teaching him to effectively blow his nose.

For more reflections on Mother's Day, check out the Carnival of Family Life residing this week on the blog Be a Good Dad. My Mother's Day post from last week is there, along with more than thirty others. Three that particularly resonated with me are God Bless Imperfect Mothers from the blog Pass the Torch; Mothers Wanted from Child Protection; and Little Things from Holly's Corner.

Do you have any Mother's Day tales to tell? Select as many answers as apply from the poll above, and share in the comments.