Mother's Day 2005

This Mother’s Day marked the year that I’ve been a mother for half of my life. There is nothing I would rather do with my life than be their mother and everything else in my life creates an environment that makes that possible.

I had Devon at age 17 closely followed by Alexandra, Tyler and then Anthony. This year, at age 34, I can’t imagine my life any other way and I thank God for them every, single day.

Devon, 16, now rides around on a Harley. I try to ride around in my car behind him. He’s masculine. He’s sensitive. He’s a boy learning how to be a man. He’s good with sparks of mischief. He’s wise yet still blissfully naive. He writes large amounts of text full of angst with sizeable nuggets of insightful prose. He’s perfect.

Alexandra Gabrielle, 14 and very much a teen girl, is so beautiful inside and out. She deftly maneuvers the struggles of Becoming and Growing. I watch her and am so thankful to not be a teen girl. Her graciousness sprinkled with tinges of spicy femaleness are a wonderful combination. She worries about having braces and doesn’t wear too much makeup. She has all the normal body issues and struggles to accept herself. She is perfect.

Tyler, 12, most recently famous for eating a small amount of sodium chemical compound in chemistry which awarded him detention and a slight stomach ache, exudes loving. Love drips out of every single pore, but as soon as he notices or worries he might not be well received, he sends out rivulets of teasing to balance the universe. His ‘jolly rancher’ comments turned into ‘your mom’ comments which turned into ‘Tyler Scott Peterson’ and then ‘bacon’, as in: ‘your mom goes to college’ or ‘what do you want to do this afternoon? – bacon/Tyler Scott Peterson.’ Completely nonsensical. He’s perfect.

Anthony, 10, entertainer and magician extraordinaire, sometimes carries red sponge balls around in his pocket. Once, during a waiting-on-AAA-to-unlock-the-car-because-mom-left-the-keys-in-the-
ignition-and-the-car-runing episode, he pulled out the red balls and juggled. On Mother’s Day, he made balloon animals while I waited in bed for the other kids to get something completed. He made me a hat, giraffe, sword and shield.

He is trying to learn how to feel his feelings and still be ok when his feelings hurt a little or a lot. He’s perfect.

It’s all perfect.