Weekend

 Sometimes weekends feel like I am bailing out a boat.  I work, work, work and then it doesn't seem like much changed.

There are no shortages of things I want to do.  I'm grateful for the change that the weekend brings though.  It's nice to be with Adam and it's nice to be outside my classroom doing different work (although I did stop by my classroom for about an hour and a half Saturday morning because I needed to finish some things up).

This weekend I felt grateful for the mothers and grandmothers in my life.  Both grandmas, my sisters (and sisters-in-law), Geri and my mom are all examples to me of the kind of mother I want to be and I honor them.

I also feel grateful for our children and exquisite granddaughter.  What a lucky duck I am to have them!

Emma texted this picture on Saturday and said she stopped by my grandma's grave because she was in the area.

I texted back that my grandma would enjoy that pink sky.  I'm sure she's not there enjoying it though.  She has moved on to bigger and better things and I'm grateful for the knowledge I have of that.

I felt a little angsty on Mother's Day.  

Every year I feel this increasing desire to make it stop.  By it, I mean church and Mother's Day.  I just wish we could separate the two.

On Friday night, Adam and I were getting Greek food and ran into another couple in our ward.  The wife said that she hates Mother's Day and was going to stay home from church.

We've gone off the rails.

It's all well meaning, but people praise their mothers and the rest of us feel weird.  We hear about mothers who are angels and we know that we aren't and we feel weird.  Thankfully (because our new bishop knows what's what) we didn't do the "every woman over the age of 18 stand up and get some chocolate" because that's the weirdest thing of all.  I always have felt like I was at a high school dance waiting to be asked to dance while I'm standing there waiting to have my gift delivered.

I know that Mother's Day has the potential to make people feel sad.  There are women who aren't mothers who would love to be.  There are people who have lost their mother or their children or they have damaged relationships.  Does a piece of chocolate really soothe any of that?  I say downplay the whole thing, celebrate the mothers you love in private and just let it be a regular Sunday at church.

Nobody is asking, but there's my opinion.

Adam left Sunday afternoon for another business trip, which was depressing.  Emma and Mark agreed to play Boggle with me because I always win so it cheers me up.

Emma won.

She quickly texted a picture of the scores to our family group chat and Braeden texted back, "You monster."

I agreed.

Losing at Boggle notwithstanding, talking to Braeden and Anna and seeing Emma and Mark fill my bucket.  Emma brought me a book called Mother-Daughter Murder Night which is a "whodunit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio who come together as amateur sleuths to solve a murder in their coastal California town."

She knows me.

So does Mark.  He asked if I was stressed about moving classrooms.  My mind has been buzzing about that and as the person who builds my bookshelves and moves them (and then moves them again) he understands.

I have a lot to be grateful for.  I love my quirky, hilarious and clever kids.  And since I taught Emma to read, maybe we both win when she wins?  Maybe?