Wii Love You, Mom!

I had, by far, the best-ever Mother's Day out of my 11+ years of mommyhood.

First, I slept in and slept hard. I didn't realize how much of my grumpiness and brain fog was due to sleep deprivation. We went to late Mass, then out to eat lunch in Chetopa where I had some unexpectedly good grilled salmon.

While we waited for our lunch to be served, I overheard several conversations that made me wish I had a pencil and paper to record small-town thought processes: The tornadoes had wiped out the south side of Chetopa the previous evening; someone's daughter had her baby--the baby didn't care whether or not there was a tornado; and a waitress yelling across the restaurant to the kitchen to ask "What kind of soup do we have today?" are three snippets of conversations shared across the restaurant. These were not private conversations held amongst patrons at a single table.

After we finished lunch we contemplated driving to see the devastation in Picher, Oklahoma, but decided not to contribute to the confusion and drove home instead. Katie and Hailey seemed especially excited to give me my Mother's Day gifts.

At home we changed out of our church clothes. Hailey said, "I'm going to check the mailbox to see if we have any mail." I'm notorious for not getting my mail from the mailbox, so this was not an unusual thing for Hailey to do on a Sunday. Slamming the door, she hollered, "Mom, there's one thing for you."

"Oh? Who's it from?" I asked as I transferred clothes from the washer to the dryer.

"You'll just have to see," she said mysteriously as she handed it to me. It was from her. Very cute.

"Alright. Let's all go sit in the living room so I can open my gifts."

I opened Hailey's mailbox letter first and found this card:

It says, "2 4 6 8 This [is] the day you sleep in late (and you kinda did)." Inside the heart reads "Wii love you MOM." The details are cute, but mostly only to a mom, so I won't gush on and on.



Next, Hannah gave me her card, which Carl had helped her make:









I didn't get it until Carl explained. He had traced Hannah's hands on each side of the heart-shaped card and wrote, "These are my hands clapping cause your my mom." If I opened and closed the heart quickly, it made the traced hands clap. Very original, as was some of the spelling.

After I finished clapping Hannah's hands, Katie and Hailey each gave me some Mommy tickets (or tickits depending on the giver):

Hailey signed all of her tickits for authenticity, informing me that they cannot be duplicated for reuse. In all I received about sixteen tickets, most (but not all) of them included the words "without complaint," as well as an expiration date. Wonderful intentions, but we'll see. I'm a realist.


Next I received Katie's card:





I asked, "Do I see a theme here?" Surely they wouldn't think of giving me a Wii for Mother's Day. I intended to "ask" for one for my June birthday, but would they really think of it on their own, without my constant reminders over the next month? You all know I want one because of this post, and some know that I've wanted one since I heard that a few care homes were using them as exercise for their patients. But, Carl or Katie or Hailey? Nah.

Wrong! I GOT A Wii! Yippee for the Wii!!!

Since Sunday I have already increased my tennis skill level and raised my heart rate several times for the first time in years.

Thanks family. I love you, too.