How My Family Celebrates Mother’s Day

As a child, I remember complaining to my mother, “It’s not fair!” 

She was cutting veggies and placing hotdog and hamburger buns on a platter. “What’s not fair?”

“Why do you get a special day, Mother’s Day, and kids don’t? Why can’t we have a Children’s Day?”

Mom laughed. “Every day is Children’s Day.” She handed me the platter and said, “Take this out to your father. I’m sure the burgers and franks are cooked.”

I knew she was right. My brothers and I were her top priority. If we needed her, she’d drop whatever she was doing to help us out. Mom was also our anchor. She taught us about self-control, self-discipline, and respect for self and others. We weren’t the only ones under her wing. When her sister-in-law passed away leaving a ten-year-old girl motherless, Mom treated her niece like a daughter. 

Later in life I settled in Los Angeles and Mom moved to Pompano Beach, Florida soon after my father passed away. She was my sounding board, best friend, and confidant. I called her once a week and visited her once a year. Mom would always fly out to the West Coast and spend at least a week every year with my daughters and me. 

After Mom died in 2000, Mother’s Day reminded me of my loss. I ignored the day and pretended it was like any other. Then one day in 2011, Channie, my oldest daughter, became the mother of an adorable baby girl. How could I ignore Mother’s Day now? I couldn’t!

During the summer of 2019, Koren, my youngest daughter, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, thus joining the ranks of motherhood. Today, Channie has three children and Koren, two. 

Now that my daughters are mothers, we celebrate Mother’s Day together. Like my parents did so many years ago, we have a family BBQ and gift exchange where the best mothers in the world get to be treated like queens. It’s a fun day for the family as the kids splash around in the pool, and the adults, chat. And when one of the kids has the nerve to ask, “Why can’t we have a Children’s Day?” 

The heavens open-up and the clouds form into a face unsurprisingly resembling my mother and rumble, “Every day is Children’s Day!”  

In the comment box below, tell us about your Mother’s Day traditions.

Michael Thal is the author of The Lip Reader.