I had a really excellent Mother’s Day. Probably a much better one than I deserved.

I woke up Sunday morning to a rustling sound in my bedroom. I thought it was the cat, which would have meant a very, very bad start to the holiday. The cat has been banished to sleep outdoors ever since a very unfortunate recent incident in which she used my bed as a litter box. It was very horrible, made even worse by the fact that the twins were sleeping in the bed at the time. I won’t go into graphic detail here, but trust me, it was a nightmare, if your nightmares involve cleaning cat poop off two nine year old girls at three in the morning, changing all bedding involved, airing out the room, running for the heavy-duty air-freshener when the open window doesn’t help, yelling at the cat and throwing her out the door and then making up beds for three people somewhere else because the gross-out quotient is too much for you in the end.

So, you can understand that the idea of the cat in my room woke me right up out of a sound sleep. But happily, it was Valentine. She was bringing something into my room. She told me that no one else was up yet, so I went right back to sleep and didn’t wake up until later when Mallory peeked into my room. She stage whispered “She’s awake.” to the other three waiting in the hallway. I sat up and saw what Valentine had been up to. She had installed a small table in the center of the room and piled it with flowers, cards and gifts.
I was treated to a song written by Valentine and performed by all four kids. I knew she was a writer, but a songwriter? It was really good!
The cards and gifts were wonderful, too, in that Mother’s Day gift kind of way. I got no less than two teddy bears, a jewel box and a big bunch of white silk flowers.
They even made me a coupon book offering various services, such as dish washing and table setting. One coupon even says I can redeem it for a pedicure from Severin, which is beyond sweet, if a bit strange. I’d bet that most 11 year old boys don’t even know what a pedicure is, let alone offer to do one. I think that’s one coupon I’ll have to keep and frame, rather than use.