Mother's Day

Mother's Day seems to be going well, by which I mean that there have been no tantrums yet over the absence of a pond. (Mom has looked into and decided against a pond more times than I can count. Always she has cited the expense as her major objection, but I have a feeling she was still hoping). It must be said, though, that at least this year we were prepared. I was, anyway. I had two lovely presents all ready to go this morning when Dad barged in and woke me up, begging for one of them. What? Give you one of my presents to give to her? You scoundrel! What kind of man has to buy presents off his children to give to his wife? I was understandably angry, especially considering I'd advised him the night before to go for flowers in the morning to forestall this exact event. But the flowers never materialized, and by eight o'clock Mom was getting anxious. He was desperate. (Although he'd already bought and given her a wheelbarrow and was going to pay for her plants when they finally got out to the gardening store, it was obvious she was expecting something from him the day of). I groggily gave him a temporary no, then went out to buy some flowers myself after church. Now having three gifts, I gave him the one I was least certain about (the wind chimes) and reminded him he owed me, big time. The worst part is, she really liked the gift I picked out for Dad to give her, maybe more than she liked the one from me. Since she had no idea why I was laughing, this made Dad look really good, as if the whole thing had been his doing. And since I will be reimbursed and he did thank me profusely afterwards, there's not a whole lot I can do about it. It would probably hurt her feelings a lot to know that Dad didn't have anything ready, too much to be worth telling her for at least a good three years.