For Motherless Children, I think, the annual Mother’s Day craft is a somewhat different experience.
On each of the previous Mother’s Days since my children lost their mother more than seven years ago, my children had always made their Mother’s Day cards and gifts for a close female friend of the family or for their dad, who appreciated them in a very unique way. My daughters are older now and no longer use construction paper and blunt scissors to make Mother’s Day cards, but this year my second grade son changed things up. He made a Mother’s Day card for his . . . Mom.
Recently, the kids and I made our summer visit to the Midwest and to the historic river city where his mother and I grew up. My daughters and son reconnected with their grandparents and many of their cousins, aunts, and uncles while enjoying a markedly more tranquil atmosphere. My daughters spent some very special time their mother’s sister and her family, while the The Favorite Son and I spent some great “guy time,” which included, among others things, a number of waterpark visits and a lot of chicken wings and darts at his Great Uncle Jimmy’s restaurant.
One day near the end of our trip, the boy and I stopped at a local hardware store and picked up some duct tape. The two of us continued on to St. Charles Memorial Gardens, where, after parking the car and making the short walk, I tore off a couple of pieces of the tape and placed them on the back of a laminated card. I handed the card back. Then, for the first time in eight years, my son gave his mom the Mother’s Day card he made at school.
