Mom is getting ready for her mom's arrival into town, and the whole house is a buzzin'. Their Mother's Day is going to be a walk in the park (among other things): Church at Centenary, Gospel Brunch in Washington Park, Luigi's Lunch with Shuga D and his Mama J, then the Stuck! Wrap Party for the evening. Mom's little sis may be taking Hollywood by its horns, but Mom is delighted she's taking their mom to her first movie-making after-party. Only in Macon, she keeps on preaching . . . Hope Mom's mom can keep up!
Of course, Mother's Day is more than three lines of thankfulness on a Hallmark card. What this Sunday comes down to is a moment when the world stops spinning long enough to reflect on a mother's touch . . . and where you feel it in your life.
It could be from rosebud babies tucked in tiny matchbooks to an inside smile when cutting open a pomegranate and hearing, "Look Jessica, look! See the pretty red seeds? You can eat them!" There are the mastered moments of public toilet hovering and flushing with your foot. The heightened sense of smelling gardenia or tea olive from a mile away. Or seeing a clump of mistletoe in a tree and wishing her rifle aim was as good as her mom's of Christmases past.
Then there are the lessons learned. The moments when that mother's touch catches you when you fall. Or sleeps on the floor beside you all night after your first horseback accident ends in a broken arm. Or when she assures you over and over that there will be a day you are glad you were the most under-developed girl in the class ("You'll still be eating what you want when everyone else is on diets!"). Or tells you that it will be okay . . . as she quietly packs the china, sharing the broken dream in the pattern she helped her oldest child select seven years before. Even though she knows how bad it hurts, she keeps her eyes dry for her daughter's sake, picks her up off the ground, puts the packing tape back in her hand and tells her to get to work. It only gets better because it can't get any worse. Mama was certainly right.
So, here's to the mothers of all mothers - past, present and future. And for a little fun, spread the news.
Pictured is Mom and her mom Elizabeth "Beppie" Lanier Rieg at the Plaza Hotel in NYC, circa. 1981.
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