It isn’t Mother’s Day
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My mom didn’t teach me much about gardening and keeping plants alive. She was never really good at that particular little task in life. In fact, giving her a plant was pretty much like sentencing it to a slow, lingering, miserable death - except when she killed it quickly and mercifully. Not sure what it was but I didn’t get my gardening stuff from my mom.
I got a ton of other things though. I got a wicked sense of Scottish humour - a bit of a dry wit that tends to sneak out when least expected (or in my case tends to hide when least expected). I got that practical Scot nature that says not to waste anything and to make do whenever possible. She was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and I got a sense that there was a lot of history behind us but a heck of a future ahead if we grabbed it. And never, ever give up on a dream. I got the love of reading in a big way from her; books were an essential part of our home and continue to be one of my passions in life. Books weren’t a big part of my dad’s life but my mom’s collection almost approached my own. If you worked hard enough and smart enough, you’d get where you wanted to go. Family was first even though you were mad at them at the time. 
There were a lot of really important things my mom taught me.
Mom is stil pretty clear that you “do it now!” and that you “do it when you’re young enough to enjoy it.” If she thought I was staying around the area to “take care of her” she’d whup my butt. (Mind you, she’d have to catch me first and I can still outrun her and her walker) Nope, my mom is pretty clear that life is to be lived and you had better do it while you can.
She’s still as happy as can be, saying that her retirement home is the best place she could have wound up; that having the freedom to go out but help there 24/7 if she needs it is great. She still loves her music and singing, and can still do a shuffle every now and then when the knees aren’t grinding too badly.
Yah just can’t keep a good Scot down.
One of the things that always annoyed her was Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. She thought they were commercialized and simply marketing exercises to “sell stuff”. So as a kid, we never made a big deal of those things and generally still don’t. A simple phone call usually does the deed. She said if you couldn’t appreciate people through the year, then one day wouldn’t make a bit of difference and the person would know which you really felt.
So. In the old days, we tried to get together as a family on a regular basis and it was a rare week when we didn’t see them at least once. I’ll tell you that my dad is gone now but I still take my mom out to dinner once a week so she can get outside her retirement home walls (she can’t travel on her own anymore). And I know we’re going out for a big ice-cream cone after dinner. Her memory isn’t as good as it once was but she’s happy. And it isn’t Mother’s Day and I didn’t send flowers or a card like the rest of the mom’s got. And she’s likely never read this as she can’t manage a computer anymore.
You didn’t teach me gardening mom, you taught me the important stuff instead.
I love you mom.
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My mom gave me my love of great food .She was the worst cook but what does one do on a limited budget and five hungry mouths .I don’t know wher my love of plants came from ,I sure wish I could ask her but she died 41 yrs ago and I miss her every day
Ahh! I am so with you on the Mother’s Day thing. Appreciation on a daily basis is the greatest gift. Gardening comes from the generations of women on both sides of the family, fly-fishing from my dad, and the love of books and traveling from both parents. I think my girls appreciate the little things I do for them…I get these beautiful chalk drawings of forget-me-nots on my front sidewalk and the best bear hugs for no good reason other than “I love you”.