Did I mention that the chocolate cake was AWESOME?

It’s not hard to make the people who mean something to you feel special.

But it can be easy to forget to do it regularly.  I know that a lot of people don’t like Mother’s/Father’s Day because of the excessive commercialization.  I’m not really bothered by that aspect of it – that the days are advertised and talked about just means I’ll remember to send something to the woman who spent hours playing in the sun with me, and the man who taught me how to love a garden.

That’s quite alright with me.

Yesterday, John let me play outside without worry, as he took care of household duties.  I mowed the lawn and played with my flower beds.  I watched him and Braden play together, talking of birdies and such.  It was really lovely.  (The chocolate cake I got to cram into my facehole last night wasn’t bad either.)

I can’t say I didn’t spend considerable time off and on thinking about things related to Mother’s day that are sad and which have no emotional or logical resolution that I know of right now.  Things related to what is and what is not, what could have, would have, should have been.  For myself.  For others.

But I also spent a lot of time being aware of what I have and being grateful.

And, you know, eating that chocolate cake.  Layered with chocolate mousse.  *drool*

And while I enjoyed my day, I knew that there was a photo magnet and card from Snapfish in my mom’s hands, and the same for John’s mom.  I know that even if I’m too much of a distractible, lazy douche to let them know every day, at least right now those two moms know I appreciate them.

I have a few things stashed away for June 21 (Father’s Day), too.  Snapfish also helped with that.  And there’s a $50 giveaway over here from them you can enter to get a jump start on your gifts, too.  You can thank me later. (With Chocolate Tall Cake from Ruby Tuesdays.  Just, you know, if you were wondering.  IT’S GOOD.)

I’m not bitter at all. Really.

This past Saturday night, on Plurk, I mentioned what I got for Mother’s Day this year from John (I’ll give you three guesses) and asked if it was over the line to crap on his side of the bed on Sunday (Father’s Day), in retaliation.  The responses were rather amusing to me, particularly this chick‘s suggestion to actually crap in his pillowcase.  Now that’s creative!

Sadly, I took the high road and I did not crap on anything in the house with which John would have to come into contact, other than the toilet.  And I flushed. 

Instead, I framed a picture Braden drew for him, and had it waiting on the table with a nice arrangement of Heavenly Bamboo cuttings and a vanilla iced, dark chocolate cake. 

 

(Please ignore the horrible icing job. it’s the thought that counts, or something.)

Then I made him breakfast when he got home off the road on Father’s Day morning – banana wheat pancakes with butter and syrup, and scrambled eggs. 

I fed the dog, got the mail, and loaded the dishwasher (things he usually does when he’s home), and watched/played with Braden while John napped on the couch.

I suggested we use the surplus in our “grocery budget cash” to splurge on a take-out dinner from somewhere nice, in his honor.

Yup.  All of that instead of gleefully defecating in the spot where he sleeps.

And I was going to say something smartass, just now, like, “I am SUCH a good person that it hurts,” or “Clearly, I like to reinforce the wrong type of behavior,” but that just wouldn’t be very nice, now would it?

And besides, the real truth is, he’s a great Father and Husband.  He treats me so well on a regular basis that it really shouldn’t matter if he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary on one specific day.  I get at least one foot rub every single day that he’s home, for crying out loud!  He cleans up the kitchen after dinner, and does diaper laundry.  Sometimes, he even sends me flowers, for no particular reason.  I miss him when he’s gone.

He’s always there for Braden, and relishes his role as Father and Provider.  He plays with, sings to, changes, and bathes Braden.  When he’s home, he gets up at night if Braden needs something.  He is sincerely interested and invested in his son, and it shows. 

A recent dinner-time prayer actually inlcuded the words, “Thank You for poopy butts and the opportunity to clean them.”  Mark that as an example of one of the reasons why I truly love him.

So really, it’s no trouble for me to make a little extra effort on this one day out of the year, to show John that I’m glad he’s the father of my son.  For all that he does for me, every other day of the year, it really isn’t that hard to make a person feel special for one day.

And you better believe that I’m going to remind his no Mother’s Day recognizin’ ass of that EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. between now and May 10th, 2009.