My mother has always been there to comfort me in times of sorrow, and celebrate with me in times of joy. She has a radiant sparkle in her eye and warmth about her that makes everyone feel special. Each and every Mother’s Day, since I was little, we had always presented my mom with some special treat, a symbol of our love for her. One year we gave her handmade gifts, the next we baked her cookies and organized breakfast in bed. No matter what presents we gave her, they never really felt like enough. How do you express your undying love for someone by giving them seemingly meaningless trinkets?
Of course, my mother appreciated the gifts and what I can remember about each of those Mother’s Days was the love that my siblings and I shared with our mother, along with my father. Outdoing ourselves each Mother’s Day, trying to come up with a better, more personal gift than the last, this year, we find ourselves stuck.
My mother is a loving soul and would not mind receiving the same thing again or even something small like a simple card, but my siblings and I want to make this year special, as it is her 30th Mother’s Day. So, after throwing some ideas around for a while, and thinking back over past Mother’s Days, I had a light bulb moment. In every single Mother’s Day, along with the presents, we always gave my mother flowers.
One year, we might have given her a bouquet of sweet smelling pink carnations with baby’s breath, and the next, it might have been a single autumn colored rose in a vase with her breakfast in bed. We decorated the lunch table with flower arrangements using everything from calla lilies, tulips, roses, and carnations to the cheerful sunflower and bold gerberas.
We realized that the flower arrangements and bouquets had always come in second to the other gifts we were giving. They always stood there beautifully decorating the entire day, and now it was their turn to take the spotlight. “My mother is a beautiful lady with a beautiful heart and deserves the beauty of flowers to enjoy on Mother’s Day,” I thought.
Discussing this with the rest of the family, we have started planning our huge Mother’s Day surprise! We have gone back over each Mother’s Day and tried to remember what flowers we gave her each year. We do have photos to help us, so the task is not too hard. We have also made copies of the best photos from each year to present to our mom in a special handmade photo album, so that she can see where we got the inspiration for the floral surprise we are about to throw her.
We will use all 30 flower arrangements, bouquets and single cut flowers in our surprise and have emptied a space in our living room, where they will all go on display. We are going to be sending our mother out for the morning to get her hair and nails done, as her “gift” and then when she returns home, the entire living room will be filled with our surprise flowers.
I can’t wait to see my Mom’s face when she walks inside. I think it will mean a lot, knowing all the effort that we put into choosing the exact flowers that we had given her each Mother’s Day to date, and with the photo album to prove it. We have left a space for a photo of this Mother’s Day with all the flowers, and I am sure this will be the best one yet!
