Mother's Day Reflections

This was the second Mother's Day since Mom passed away. A year and a half and sometimes I'm still not sure how I function without her! There's no replacing Mom, so all you can do is try to channel some of her unconditional love, joy and ridiculousness and in that way try to capture the sensation of having her with us again.

This weekend was dedicated to Mom's love, joy, and ridiculousness. 


Saturday, I brought Dad and Johnny to the Greenbelt Green Man festival, a wacky annual event celebrating the Green Man of pagan lore in the green, progressive community of Greenbelt.

It's really an excuse for a bunch of adults to dress up in vines and flowers and horns and play with hula hoops and hand drums, 





and for people like me to commit elder abuse and make my poor uncle Johnny wear a green sarong. 
















It was a fun time though, with great weather and the chance to see some of my green mellow hippie musical friends which always relaxes me. 

One of my friends gave me a thing that she didn't know was a Mother's Day present, but that I thought of that way. 

My first ever Mother's Day present. It's perfect. 
















And darn it, why shouldn't all moms be celebrated on Mother's Day, even if our kids are short, hairy, and have very poor manners?

Speaking of which, Sunday was a steamy day and a perfect day to take those kids on a nice walk. We went to Fairland Recreational Park, which is not far from us in Silver Spring. An enormous park, loads of mountain bike and hiking trails, streams, and several very angry turtles!

The dogs, fortunately, took no interest in the turtles whatsoever. Funny--do turtles have no smell? 

The dogs did however get nice and tired, so we felt OK leaving them in the afternoon to celebrate Mother's Day with my aunt, my cousin, Uncle Johnny, Dad, and my sister. 

Can you believe it, it's been about a year since Uncle Bob left us too. Here's a picture from old times; I have no idea when because I don't even recognize the dog. Maybe my aunt and uncle's old dog Ebbet?

Change is a part of life; I suppose you just have to roll with it, maybe even embrace it. 

Celebrate every moment of ridiculousness you can,

and spend lots of time with the people who bring out your love and joy.

 Mom would approve.