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If my mother were still here in body and someone asked her what the best Mother's Day gift she had ever received, she would be quick to respond. There was one gift that beats the competition by miles.
My mother starting having children in 1952. She bore three daughters and one son. During the 1950's it was almost expected of a woman to bear children and stay home with them to cater to their every need. She took her job very seriously and was the best Mom a child could ever ask for.
With that in mind, my siblings and I would always do something special for her on Mother's Day. We would make her something at school that would bring tears to her eyes when we proudly presented them to her on her special day.
These small but meaningful gifts would make her day and would consistently be rated in her top three "best gifts for Mother's Day" but could never attain number one status.
I am sure every mother would say the same thing. Receiving a hand made present from someone who is the center of their universe means more than a gift that costs a lot of money. Those kind of presents are nice too.
My Father had that covered with the kind of presents he would bestow on her every second Sunday in May.
One year he presented her with tickets to Hawaii. Most years he would treat her to a night at the fanciest hotel in town. He would always tell her that she deserved a break from cooking and a break from her children. The kind of gifts that cost a lot of money were surely appreciated but would never hit number one on her charts. That was reserved.
Her response, to being asked what her best Mothers Day present ever was, would always quick and decisive.
As we know, Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday in May. One Mother's Day in 1954 she received her all time best present that was never topped for her 60 or so Mother's Days to follow. It was a present that was the most meaningful, the most exciting, the most heartfelt and the most unusual of any she had ever received.
In 1954, Mother's Day fell on the 8th of May. Her present arrived that Sunday very early in the morning.
I was the second child born in our family. The only male child. I was born at 5:40 AM on May the 8th ... 1954. Mother's Day. The best Mother's Day gift my mother ever received was without a doubt ... ME.
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