Saturday, May 9, 2015

Let's ALL Celebrate Mother's Day!

(Warning- the following post is going to contain a truly creepy picture of hundreds of spiders. If you do not want to see a truly creepy picture of hundreds, perhaps thousands of spiders, then please read no further. Thank you. You have been warned.)

I had a really good time today. Went to the T-Ball game where the kids comported themselves well, both on and off the field. These tykes (I sort of hate that word but I sort of love it too) are just so darling and I have to say that their parents and grandparents and apparently aunts and uncles and siblings too certainly do show up to cheer them on. I love seeing a guy with his cellphone in a belt holster wearing a gimme cap and walking around holding a baby. It's a good time. I sit with Jason's mother and we chat and interact with Gibson and Lenore who sometimes deign to sit on our laps. When Lenore sits on my lap, I feel as if I have received a special prize, won an award, found a gold ring on the sidewalk. I'm not her grandmother and she barely knows me. She probably does it because she sees Gibson doing it and she wants to do everything Gibson does.


How beautiful is that child? 
As you can tell from her ruddy cheeks, it is getting warmish around here. Creeping back up into the 90's although it still gets cool at night. 

After the game I proved a point which is that sponsoring a T-Ball team is good advertisement. Owen's team is sponsored by a local restaurant called The Red Elephant and I sat there this morning thinking, "Hmmmm. I sure would like a grilled fish sandwich from the Red Elephant!" And so I took myself there in fact, and did order a grilled fish sandwich and it was delicious. But before we all got in our cars, Owen pointed out something on the sidewalk. A spider. (Repeat warning. Scary picture about to appear!)
"Oh my god!" I said. "That is a huge spider!" Lily checked it out and said, "It has hundreds of babies on its back!" And my Lord, it did. 


Happy Mother's Day! Phew! She scuttled off into the grass off the sidewalk and I was so glad we didn't step on her. 

So. Back to lunch.
My server was about nineteen years old. She was darling. But she kept doing this thing that I've noticed servers doing which was to say the word, "Wonderful!" every time I opened my mouth. 
"What would you like to drink?"
"Unsweetened iced, tea, please."
"Wonderful!"
"Are you ready to order?"
"Yes. I am. I'd like the grilled mahi sandwich."
"Wonderful!"
"What sort of hot sauce would you like? We have Crystal and Tabasco."
"Tabasco, please."
"Wonderful!"
"How's your sandwich?"
"It's delicious. Thank you."
"Wonderful!"
What the fuck? Are my choices that spectacular? Anyway, I tipped her well because except for the overuse of the word "wonderful" she was a good server. 

Then I went to Joanne's fabric and bought flannel to make Jessie's baby a quilt. In fact, I bought enough flannel to make about twenty baby quilts. I have no idea why. Nor do I have any idea what this quilt is going to look like. Like all of my quilts, I suppose, which could best be described as "home-made."
I have no idea how to quilt. I don't really make quilts. I just make flannel blankets. Oh well. It's something you have to do when you're a grandmother. It's like Ouiser in Steel Magnolias saying that she grew tomatoes even though she did not like them because she was an old southern woman and old southern women are required to wear funny hats and grow tomatoes. 
Of course, I've got that covered too. 

Wait a minute. Weren't we supposed to be talking about Mother's Day? Yes. Yes we were and all I've done so far in regard to that is post a picture of a mother spider. 

Here's my favorite Mother's Day picture of the year. 


Supposedly that is a 140 year-old mother tortoise with her five-day old son on her head. And if that's not the cutest damn thing you've ever seen, well please tell me where to find what is because that picture just makes me happy in every part of my heart. 

And here's a video of a male orangutan who has taken on the job of being a surrogate mother to a bunch of baby tiger cubs. 



I know. Stop it, right?

Mother's Day. It can be a conflicted day for many of us, truth to tell, whether we are mothers or not. We all have or had mothers, some of them The Best Mothers In The World, some of them mothers who maybe did the best they could. And there are step-mothers and there are aunties and there are even men who aren't even related by SPECIES who can obviously mother beautifully.
Let's face it- we all need all the mothering we can get.
I'm sixty years old and I still need it and I get it from my girlfriends, my children, my husband. Yes. I get mothering from all of those people. Even my grandsons sometimes. Because mothering is a limitless form of loving which accepts us as we are, and embraces us with a sort of joy and which nurtures our souls. You don't have to give birth to give it, you don't have to have been born from someone to receive it from them.

But let's all honor it. That spirit, that energy, that love.

All right. Speaking of southern women, I'm cooking pinto beans and greens tonight and I'm going to go make a skillet of cornbread and in the morning, my kids (except for Jessie who is working-dammit) are coming out for pancakes and bacon.

And may I add that however you decide to celebrate or not celebrate Mother's Day, I say to you, "Wonderful!"

Love...Ms. Moon





13 comments:

  1. I love your description of Mothers. Even though I go into people's homes to care for them, more often then not they end up mothering me. Even more so if they find out my own mother has passed. It is truly beautiful.

    And I like that mama spider with her babies on her back. What a clever way to take care of your spider babies.

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  2. What a "wonderful" post! Happy Mother's Day to you. And thank you for the "mothering" you provide here to us every day. At least it feels that way to me. (Well, except for the spiders, but I've been warned!)

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  3. I hope your Mother's Day is beautiful, Ms Mary Moon. Another lovely post from you. Sylvia is right - your mothering comes through in your writing and reaches out to gather us all in. Thank you for that.

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  4. Oh, so many ways to be a mother. Happy Mother's Day to you, Mrs. Moon.

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  5. Wait. Is it my imagination, or can you see a weird little face peering up at you from the spider's back?

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  6. LOL -- I don't think I ever use the word wonderful. Maybe she's making up for those of us who underuse it, so that the quota of wonderfulness in the world is still achieved.

    I love that spider! What a cool find! And not creepy at all. The tortoise is adorable too.

    (Adorable is another word I seldom use.)

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  7. Have a wonderful mother's day!!! :-)

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  8. Beautiful post, and thank you for the SPider Warning, which allows me to scroll quickly and Avoid :)

    Shudder.

    Love the other nature though. And thank you for all your mothering xx

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  9. My pet peeve is when wait staff say 'no problem' when you thank them. I always say to myself that if it WAS a problem they should have another job. I tend to over-thank a lot, so maybe they're tired of hearing me, too. My hubby, though, he's a hoot. If he orders Diet Coke, the waitress will usually say, 'Is Diet Pepsi OK?' And though he's only said it a couple of times, it sends me into waves of laughter: 'Sure. Is Monopoly money OK for you?' Oh, and spiders don't skeer me, but thanks for the warning. And turtles? I LOVE 'em! Missing my Mama today....she left us six years ago. Oh, and I'm prepping for a colonoscopy tomorrow. Oh, joy!

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  10. Happy Mothers day to you Mary.Thinking of my own mother who passed many years ago,still missing
    her.
    Carol

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  11. Happy Mother's Day! The spider picture is wonderful, i'm glad you included that, as i like spiders.

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  12. Yes to what you wrote. I call them nurturers but we are talking the same form of love.

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