I spent $25 on a gift certificate and $8 on a card for my mom for Mother’s Day. It was $2.36 for 2 day shipping. The average consumer will spend $168 on Mother’s Day this year, and apparently, my street cred as a son will significantly drop, especially after this post. Twenty billion dollars will be spent to celebrate this special day in 2016 on jewelry, extravagant flower arrangements, chocolates oozing with caramel or gooey cherries, and the FREAKING PERFECT MOTHER’S DAY CARD!!! Ok. Breathe. She will like the card.

The card this year was pretty rad. It was normal and pink and nice, but it had an epic accessory attached to it. Right there, neatly wrapped around the center of the card, of all things, was a creme and pink coffee cup koozie (Google koozie and it will make sense). Talk about an $8 card earning its steep price! I saw this thing and considered the colossal amount of McDonalds coffee mom consumes and I knew I had struck gold. Keep that $132.64 (I’m including my $2.36 shipping) I was short of the average and I’ll keep my koozie and new world title of the greatest Mother’s Day Card purchaser ever.

I don’t remember what the card says on the inside. I think I read it, but I forgot if I actually did. I hope it’s nothing weird or inapplicable, like for a stepmom or great grandma, but it’s probably got a little poetry and some joke about coffee. I wonder if she has all the cards I sent her over the years. I don’t have many birthday cards around. Call me superficial (and after this, you’d probably call me cheap), but I don’t know if the cards always mean so much anyway. I’ve gotten some really great cards, but I can’t really tell you about them much.

I have a letter from a friend from several years ago, but sadly, I still can’t find it. I’ve looked everywhere. This letter meant a lot to me when I read it, and maybe even more to me now. I dedicate a whole chapter in the new book to this letter, I guess because it meant something to me. He wrote it about two years before he died, and unfortunately, I never talked to him about it. I would have told him he was right about everything, but I can do that in heaven.

Memories. We want this to be special, don’t we? Don’t we want our mom’s to feel appreciated and loved for who they are and what they do? I guess, if I’m going to tell the truth, I don’t think this whole Mother’s Day thing is for me.

I call my mom once a week. I try to at least. I do it in the car so I won’t be distracted. It’s good for me to listen and hear what is on her mind. A lot of times, we get ornery with each other, but mostly it’s me telling her about the kids and her telling me about her neighbors. I like the older folks she lives with. I miss doing puzzles with Barbara, Dottie, and Millie. Millie passed away last year, and I know I don’t have forever with my mom, either. I lost dad just over a year ago, and I’m much closer to my mom than him.

Those phone calls mean something. They are free, but they are healthy. They help me connect and catch up. Maybe they’re good for mom, too. Maybe they’re perfect.

Can I just say one more thing? Isn’t this about her, anyway? Isn’t this about what means the most to them? Isn’t this about what makes our moms feel the most valued. Mother’s Day could just be a commercialized holiday, or it can mean so much more. If we honor our Mothers and do the things that would bring them joy, than doesn’t that mean more than the traditions of this whole thing? For me, it’s a weekly phone call. What is it for you mom? Have you truly thought about what means the most to her on Mother’s Day? If you need a card consultant next year, I’ve got your back. But that’s probably not it, is it? I think we know what our Moms would love most for Mother’s Day, and it probably has nothing to do with money.

Happy  Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there! I hope you truly enjoy your day!