I’ve been saying this every year for the past 9 years, but This Is The Best Mother’s Day Ever! I was awoken nice and early – narrowly missing the Tooth Fairy’s departure but in time for sunrise – and presented with a custom-made Breakfast in Bed menu.

After making my selection, I fell back asleep while the Breakfast Fairies worked their magic (under Dad’s supervision). Soon the fairies were back, this time with a tray of goodies, fresh-picked flowers and my Mother’s Day favorite – homemade cards. Those get me every time!

The only thing that could make the day better would be to have my mother here to share in the festivities.  A phone call later will have to do, since she’s 2,401 miles away in University Place, WA. Sorry, Mom – I didn’t even get a homemade card in the mail this year! This post will have to do.

Mom gave me this vintage print years ago, after I had flown the nest and settled far from home (in the Garden State of New Jersey, via DC and Paris). I’m not sure she even remembers giving it to me, but I’m a sentimental sap and borderline hoarder so naturally I saved it. With both of us gardeners (she Master, me apprentice), the Goethe quote seems written for us. (Even though I know the term “garden” is meant figuratively; I take similar liberties when interpreting fortune cookies.) To run with the figurative angle, albeit in a slightly different trajectory – is it a coincidence that Mother’s Day is the unofficial start of Gardening Season? After all, don’t mothers plant the seeds, nurture the seedlings, protect them from environmental dangers, beam with pride at harvest time and delight in the cycle’s repeat?

Happy Mother’s Day to my Master Gardener/Mother, Karen, and to all mothers out there. I’m off to plant some bean seeds and tomato seedlings. (More on that soon!)