Mother’s Day With No Kids

Honestly, I hadn’t really given it a thought until people started asking me what I was going to do on Mother’s Day with no kids. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not in denial or anything. I KNOW Mother’s Day is Sunday, but despite not having any kids at home, I’m still looking forward to it.

Even though my daughters are away at college and my son is “grown” and on his own in Dallas, I’m still a mom. I may not be packing lunches every day and spending Saturday mornings at the soccer field, but that doesn’t take away my mom-ness. So don’t look at me with pity in your eyes. On Sunday, I’ll be reading the paper and having coffee on the patio while my husband attempts to make me something I like for breakfast. (I wonder if it would be too ambitious for me to expect him to learn to make Eggs Benedict by Sunday?)

The fact that your children have left home doesn’t make you less of a mom, but it does usher in a new phase of life – and one that isn’t bad at all. Of course, it happens gradually. One leaves and you adjust your life to setting the table for four, then another leaves and your youngest gets WAY too much attention and your grocery bill goes WAY down; then you’re left staring across the dinner table at that guy you married a few decades ago.

What I’ll be celebrating this Mother’s Day is, first, my own mom, since I wouldn’t be here without her; second, my children, who are the coolest kids in the world; third, the lucky fact that my children are healthy, happy and are out living their lives and figuring out their places in the world. As a mom, I couldn’t ask for a better gift.