Mother's Day

I have just been gathering up from Mother's Day--putting away the dishes from lunch, picking up the toys scattered by the girls, throwing away the tissue from my gift (A lovely arrangement of beautiful shells the family found in Florida).

This is the first Mother's Day I have been with Brandon in a long time. It was so fun to hear the girls giggle in anticipation over the cards and gifts. I think they get more excited over the cards because they get to write in them.

Some years ago at the New York World's Fair I was privileged to see the Pieta--one of the more profound experiences of my life. To see Mary holding the adult lifeless body of Jesus and looking at him with such pain and love was priceless. All mothers know the joy and pain of having their "hearts walking outside their bodies" as someone once said. It is one of the most intense experiences of being human.

I am so thankful to God for the joy and the pain of being a mother to the son He gave me--certainly one of the better deals of my life. I am grateful for his sensitive soul, his thirst for God, his many gifts, the respect he has earned in his chosen occupation, and for the fun, the tears, the triumphs we have had--what a life!