Member-only story
Mother’s Day Lessons
A few years ago, I really screwed up
“If you can’t figure out how to celebrate me today, I will do it myself so our daughters know that today is a day to celebrate me.” — My wife
At this point in our marriage, we had been married for five or six years. We had two daughters, both very young. And for most holidays and important occasions, I had been very bad at celebrating.
Maybe this was part of my family or origin or I was still very self-absorbed. I honestly can’t tell you which, if anything it was a combination of both. Anyway, most days when we were celebrating my wife, I was doing it the way I would want to be celebrated.
Which was a huge mistake every time.
Finally, we came to this particular Mother’s Day where I was going to do things on the fly. And nothing was working out. Mother’s Day isn’t a day where you do things on the fly (if you don’t know this).
At the moment when things weren’t working out for my half-hearted plans, my wife told me she was going to get Starbucks and let me figure out if I wanted to celebrate her or not. And then she left.
I was shocked, embarrassed, and ashamed.
It finally hit me at that moment. For years, I had celebrated my wife in a terribly…