A Mother's Day sans Photos

It's a good thing I don't have an Instagram account. I would be the worst Instagrammer in the (brief) history of that photo-sharing site.

Here it is, Mother's Day, which Hallmark tries to elevate to Major Religious Holiday status for us females charged with keeping small humans alive. And what precious photos do I have of my adorable gap-toothed* children showering me with gifts and cards and breakfast in bed and whatever other cliches are hawked by the advertising industry?

None.

I could have taken a photo of the adorable baby when she woke up at 5:30 this morning, but  I didn't. (A. got up with her, and anyway, I don't want to do anything at 5:30 a.m. except suck coffee.)

I could have taken a photo of the adorable four-year-old who made this tea towel for me at school, but I didn't.

I've already used this to cover my bread dough and freshly-made tortillas. Way to go, preschool teacher, for coming up with a very practical Mother's Day gift.

I could have taken a picture of the nine-year-old who is currently running at the nose, coughing like a habitual smoker, and plastered to the couch, but I didn't. (I did stay home with him from church, though.)

I could have taken a picture of the six-year-old who remarked out of the blue yesterday, "It seems like you're always able to find fault with us," but I didn't. (I also should have replied that that is a mom's special super power, but I didn't do that, either.)

So what did I do? Well, I tried to hide away in the bedroom to read for a little bit while A. had all four kids outside, but they started to trickle in one by one and I hadn't actually locked the door, so pretty soon I had three of the four children rolling around on the bed with me. A. came in to haul them all out and Cubby told me cheerily, "Well, at least you're never lonely."

No. No, I am not. And for that, I am extremely grateful. 

But I still locked the door after that.

Happy Mother's Day to my sisters-in-arms. I hope your day was exactly as you wished it to be.

* Charlie is the only one with a gap at the moment, actually, as he lost his first tooth last week. The second tooth is even now loose and will create an even bigger gap shortly.