Hey Mama!

It was Mothers' Day last Sunday.

This year, I received my first Mother’s Day gift from my firstborn. It’s a heart shaped paper “handbag” with colourful shaped shapes glued to one side while the other has “I Love You, Mummy from Leong Sook Yin” with her less-than-impressive colouring skills. No matter – I love it all the same even though it was obviously a mass-produced class project. All she had to do was to colour the letters and heart, and stick on the shapes. My little xian probably doesn’t even realise the significance or meaning of this occasion.

When she presented it to me last Thursday night when I got home, I immediately tucked it away in the plastic box folder with all her other documents, safe from her destructive hands. (Xian has a tendency to play with her art till it crumples to bits) The hub joked that only me, the sentimental idiot, would keep something like that whereas REALLY important letters, payment advice and bills are chucked around nonchalantly.

The hub knows me too well. I am an emotional creature by nature, and I treasure such items as they can’t be bought. And the hub, being my total opposite, never once uttered "happy mother's day" to me. Then again, his entire family doesn't have the habit of celebrating birthdays, let alone frivolous (and extremely commercial) events like these, so we didn't have a special lunch or dinner.

However, a week ago, we brought my own parents out for an early mum's day dinner treat. We had Japanese and I bought a "I Love Grandma" photoframe so that my mum could display a picture of herself with the kids. (Only there isn't a really nice photograph that we have of her and the 2 rascals...) You could say it's a cheesy gift, but when Xian ran towards her shouting "Grand-mee, I got a present for you!" and enveloped her in a hug, my mum's face lit up and she was visibly touched.

Yeah, it's the thought that counts. The little tender gestures and moments which we often cast aside in favour of more "important and urgent" matters like i) settling the finances - making sure all the bills are paid promptly so that the banks won't earn the high interest rates and ii) increasing our finances so that we can put aside funds for the kids' education and rainy day piggy bank). Notice how money is the root of all evil? It has robbed us of our humanistic tendencies and stripped our hearts bare. Its horrifying we think about money all the time. *shudder*

Anyway, here's wishing all super mums who have made a difference in our lives and our children’s worlds a Belated Happy Mothers’ Day. Hope you basked in the warmth of your kids' love and felt a little more celebrated than usual. Commercialised or not, we deserve the recognition.