Mother’s Day

Dale Matson

1-2-3 and lift. That is the story of our relationship. It is cooperation, negotiation and accomplishment. It is love in the morning with a kiss at the end our daily walk with the dogs. It is a prayer holding hands at a meal. Swimming in the Copper River pool together.

It is your laughter with the dogs at play in the snow. It is the dependable meet ups on the trail and the quiet back scratches at bedtime. You are crewing for everyone in the journey of life; helping them carry their load.

This day was made for you. You are receiving the dividends of a life invested in raising your sons. It is love extended and love returned. It is a family expanded because love has no bounds.

It is a day where grandmother is an honored title too. You have made the time and been intentional about participating in the lives of your grandchildren. You are surrounded in your house by photographs of them smiling at you like fragrant flowers from vases.

Everyone is included. No one can be left out. It would not be the family thing to do. It is who you are. Hospitality is holy to you.

So much of the growing pains of parenting are gone, replaced by the physical pains of aging. That does not stop you from filling those two green waste cans regularly.

With each grandchild comes a new and deeper patina on your personality. The time in the pool and the time in the stroller is good time. Coordinating schedules to get events on the Susie Zoo calendar. All of this is to provide a time with family at a meal.

And there are the tennis stories too, of matches won and lost, played on tired legs and sore knees that extended into a meal with the gals.

There are the birthday meals with friends of many years that bring you up to date with the lives of so many women you care about. Now there are the lunches with sons too, having them all to yourself, not having to share them with others.

You have daughters now. They are the wives of your sons and you help free up their time, give them a respite from the children and offer help in their yards.

As for me, we do spend lots of time together. Our Costco runs with a yogurt chaser are a weekly delight. The daily rituals are well worn and firmly entrenched.Sometimes we break the routine and stop for a yogurt at an actual yogurt shop. Where does the time go so fast? There are the overnights where we sleep on the ground and get chased into our tent by storms. Watch those aluminum trekking poles around me dear!

Yes Mother’s Day is a day made special order for you. God would not want it any other way.

Love,

Dale