So for Mother's Day he bought the family a vacation on a cruise liner headed for the Bahamas. He's never going to be able to top that Mother's Day gift, but at this point I'm not too concerned. The mere prospect of sharing eight full days with Jon in a place where everyone expects you just to sit around and relax sounds fabulous. Granted, the children will be with us, but since Jon's idea of relaxing is much the same as the children's ideas, I won't be too bothered.
The last time I had a truly relaxing vacation (by my standards of relaxation) was when I spent the night in a cabin with five of my sisters. We talked, made our meals, and cleaned up, talked some more, maybe slept a little, talked, ate, etc., etc. Nearly two full days of nothing much more than talking. No need to find adventure in the world "out there" -- plenty of fascinating life experiences to be explored within the realms of our sisters' psyches.
Two of my sisters have featured more prominently in my life lately, probably because all three of us have been pregnant at the same time. (I say "have been" because Dolly's baby was born a week ago.) My sisters have been friends to me to a much greater extent than my mother was, which, tangentially, is probably why I have never felt much interest in Mother's Day. I'm a mother twice over, but often I feel that the beautiful children in my care are more like sisters to me than like daughters. Younger sisters, of course, with whom I have been charged responsibility and authority to discipline, but sisters nonetheless.
I rarely get weepy when reflecting on my relationships, but as I contemplated my sisterhood with my children, it brought tears to my eyes. I wonder if someone has invented "Sister Appreciation Day"?
Evidence of a pre-party mishap by the intrepid Naomi features prominently in this next photo. She wanted to play with a balloon, and I thought tying it to the picnic table leg would help. Apparently not.