Miscellaneous Mother's Day Thoughts

• I am lucky. My mother, my maternal grandmother, my mother-in-law, and numerous aunts are living. I have two beautiful, healthy children. I am simultaneously thankful for what I have, sadly aware of those who aren't as lucky, and terrified of losing what I have.
• I spent the first part of Mother's Day making my husband's birthday cake with my son. It turned out pretty well, despite the finger prints and the inevitable mixed-in kid spit.
• Today is the twenty-sixth anniversary of my first stuttering block. I was standing with some other children in front of my church congregation attempting to read a sappy Mother's Day poem from Ideals magazine. I opened my mouth to read the title, and not a sound came out. After several unsuccessful tries, I was terrified and ran to the front pew to sit down. I remember how the eighty-year-old minister patted me on the back and told me everyone gets stage fright, and how I cried harder, adamantly shaking my head no, my ponytails whipping my wet face, because I knew this was not stage fright. The good news was that the congregation was spared at least one of those sappy poems.
• I am not going to win any Mother of the Year awards. Yesterday my son exclaimed, "I love my frickin' sister!" Maybe next year.