Greetings!

Today, Sunday, May 12, is Mother's Day. 

Although we have no biological human kids, along with the 74 million mothers in our country and their families, our little family celebrates this day. Upon awakening this morning, I was treated to our dogkids', O's and Freddy B's, enthusiastic wake-up slurps, nuzzling, and waggly tails.  

A hearty breakfast lovingly prepared by DH, who was escorted up the stairs by our "kids," was much enjoyed by "Mom" (that would be me).  Then, DH drew me a bath.

A BATH!

That's my ultimate Mother's Day gift: a luxurious bath, complete with bubbles and a bath balm of oatmeal, bath salts, chamomile, hibiscus, saffron, cloves, cinnamon and orange oil -- melted in the water, leaving it silky smooth and fragrant. 

For the next half hour, I luxuriated, relaxing in a fragrant, emollient haze and enjoying the deep silence and the company of our dogkids at the tub's edge, lapping up splashed drops of water.  

I love baths!  

~~~

In contrast, the next half-hour was frenzied with rushing about, housecleaning, and packing up the car. As we drove down the hill, the mountain skies were blue, breathtakingly blue, and cloudless, and the late spring air temperatures were perfect. Leaving the mountains is never easy, but especially so, early in the day.

But we had a lot to go back down the hill to... 

~~~

Our godchildren, Samara, Jonathan (Samara's husband) and Alana, invited us to celebrate Mother's Day with them over at their mother's, Sue's, home.

We are so glad (and grateful) that Sue's home is now just a quick freeway's drive away from us, and not hundreds of miles away as it was almost three years ago, when they lived in Danville. Jonathan and Samara now live only one city away from Sue, and Alana lives less than two hours away, in San Diego. 

The proximity has been ideal, and the `ohana (family) coming together is so much easier.  

Upon arrival, we were immediately deluged with gifts. First, a huge bouquet of flowers, a beautiful card and a gorgeous orchid lei for me, and a ti lei for DH, too. Samara and Jonathan had just returned from their weeklong Florida vacation to Disney World.  We are a family of Disneyphiles and they delighted us with great-looking pens that commemorate 100 years of Disney Magic.

It was a warm summer's day at Sue's, just the way Sue likes it, and we had a culinary surprise of a dinner in her backyard under a large umbrella.  

Click on the photos, if you wish, for larger versions.

Sue is one of the most generous people I know.  She could very well keep this special day with her girls and son-in-law to herself, but no, she shares it with me, their godmother.  That really should be written:  GODmother.  God was darn serious about the whole thing.  I had no idea how serious at the time we accepted our GODparenthood.  It was only when Wayne departed so unexpectedly, leaving Sue a young widow, did I have an inkling that it was all part of The Grand Plan. 

I cannot adequately describe how proud I am of the strength, the character, and the devotion that Sue has instilled in Samara and Alana.  They are loving, caring, and decent human beings, who grace this Earth with their presence and their beauty, inner and outer.  They are good people, who are fun to be with and funny, too.

"Always a godmother, never a god."
~ Author Unknown

So the godkids fête us, mother and godmother.  Because as Napoleon Bonaparte said, "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother," on this day,  I join them in fêting Sue and honoring her admirable motherhood.  With respect, I salute her  every day, but especially, today.

See the smiles below.  Not a fake one in the bunch.  That's genuine happiness shining through:

Again, click on the photos for enlargements, if you wish.

We gathered around the table like an old-fashioned family.  The conversation was lively.  We are a bunch of movie goers, Disneyphiles,  and reality TV -- Survivor and The Bachelor -- viewers, so there's a lot to talk about besides catching up on our lives.  I highly recommended PBS' Frontier House, which, last week, kept us riveted although we watched only the second half of the series. Alana has also watched only some of the episodes and shared our opinion that it was exceptional TV.

"Keep an eye on the listings and watch it, if you can, " I urged. "PBS should be repeating the series again soon." 

The conversation drifted back to Alana, who earlier broke the great news that she has just got a new job as a biologist at prestigious Scripps Institute.  She's coming up in the world.  

Samara and Jonathan shared their Disney World vacation pictures with us.  They had a blast. Although they just celebrated their third anniversary, they were mistaken over and over for honeymooners.  That's a good aura. They also caught us up on Aunty Pat (Sue's sister), who lives in Florida.  

Sue told us about her new job, and she seems happy with it.  She is surrounded with books, and like me, she is a bibliophile.  Things seems to be working out just fine.  Everything in its own time.

The backyard got a little too warm, and we moved into the air-conditioned indoors. The Lakers are playing, and flipping channels, Alana lands on PBS's Frontier House.  Synchronicity strikes!  The first episode is just being telecasted, and we all find a spot in the living room and settle in. 

DH and I had missed seeing the first few episodes, and so we welcomed the chance to watch them. Sue, Jonathan and Samara were watching all of it for the first time -- from start to finish.  We were as riveted watching the latter episodes the second time as we were, the first time.  

Frontier House is excellent TV.  It demonstrates the profound truth that "Productivity builds morale."  Those were happy, wholesome kids out there in the wilderness. When they returned to the 21st century, they were bored. And, because it underscores the importance and interdependence of family and community, I was particularly happy to watch it in its entirety with our family as a family.    

Highlighting  the benefits of simplicity, resourcefulness, and not wasting, Frontier House is my kind of TV.  Just as those early 1883 Montana settlers did, our `ohana has relied on the love and confidence and support we have for each other to get us through the hardest moments of our lives  -- we  have had some pretty tough moments -- and have sweetened every victory -- and there have been a number of  victories -- with our Aloha for one another.

So this card and its sentiments were touchingly meaningful to me.  Words mean a lot to me, and these were heart words. Thank you, GODkids for the perfect card.  It says it all: