Happy, Happy Mother's Day, 2009!

The petunias say "Happy Mother's Day" eloquently!

There was a lot of giggling and snickering and I heard this admonition more than once as I prepared breakfast, "These plans are NEITHER of your business!" I knew that meant I had better stay in the kitchen.

The secret keepers disappeared for a time and when they emerged, they covered the dining room table with a flat of red, white and blue petunia patriots!

Daddy grinned while Michael Birdsong nearly came unglued over the delight of it all. He stuttered; he giggled; he pointed out the details of each posie; he was so proud to bring the secret shopping out into the open, where it could be admired, appreciated and discussed at length. He wanted desperately to please his mom, which he most assuredly did.

Almost ritualistically, we had to recall the first Mother's Day gift-a wire basket-from all those many years ago. He wondered aloud, "did it still hang in the kitchen?" That was 40 years ago so even the kitchen is not the same. But he so hoped it would be there as a monument to the love he holds in he heart for his mom.

Then we revisited the most memorable gift I ever had for my own mother and what we all remembered about our mothers through the years...we grinned and there was a tear or two.

Of course, in this family, we cannot even think of Mother's Day without reliving the treasured story of how my #1 grandson and his mother surprised my mother and me with an unexpected visit. That was the year Corey Douglas Grandson prepared three breakfasts in bed!

Lovely memories, super secrets, devotion from a family I adore. Add to that those charming petunias, gracing our newly acquired flowerbeds...Is it any wonder I love my life?

Connie Baum