My Mum and Me

Just a little post about my mum, since Mothers Day is coming up soon.
Me and my mum haven't always been close. I used to feel hard-done-by and sorry for myself, thinking she liked my brother more than me and my sisters and that she wasn't that bothered about my kids (a hard pill to swallow when you're a mum).

Every time I saw her I would come away angry and disappointed, having set myself up with unrealistic expectations of how I hoped things would go.

Two years ago around Mothers Day I had the inspiration (I now totally think it was a whisper from God) to make her a Mix CD of all my favourite songs. This seed of an idea grew into a big project where I made a booklet with all the lyrics and why the songs were special to me; I filled it with photos of me and mum through the years, and the making of it was healing for me. It was like I started to see her with new eyes, and appreciate her for who she is. By the time I sent it off to her I had such a warm fuzzy glow it wouldn't have mattered whether she acknowledged it or not.

But she did. She rang me as soon as she got her tears under control, half an hour after receiving it. (Her love language is gifts). She was moved, blown away, gob-smacked.

We talked and talked, cried and phone-hugged (she lives 6 hours away).

Since then, I have found that we are closer than ever before in my whole life. We regularly talk on the phone for ages, I no longer feel like she doesn't care much about my kids. It's been two years and I can honestly say that I love and appreciate my mum for who she is.

We are friends.

So this year I made her a photobook* full of pictures of me, her, the kids. Just a reminder that we love her and think she's great. I'm looking forward to that phone call!
(BTW You can click here and see my photobook; I'm kinda proud of it)

What do you do on Mothers' Day?