I've been coming across songs that speak to me lately...

Smiley Face by Gnarls Barkley

But what did you do
What did you say
Oh did you walk or did you run away
Where are you now
Where have you been
Did you go alone or did you bring a friend

I need to know this
Cause I notice
You smiling
Out in the sun
Having fun
And Feeling free

And I can tell you know how hard this life can be
But you keep on smiling for me

So what went right
What went wrong
Was it a story or was it a song
Was it over night
Or did it take you long
Was knowing your weakness what made you strong

Or all the above
Oh how I love to see you smiling
An oh yeah
Take a little pain just incase

You need something warm to embrace
To help you put on a smilin face
Face
Smiley face

Don’t you go off into the new day with any doubt
Here’s a summary of something that you can smile about
Say for instance, my girlfriend, she bugs me all the time
But the irony of it all is that she loves me all the time
Oh see

I wanna be you whenever I see you smiling
Because its easily one of the hardest things to do
Your worries and fear become your friends
And they end up smiling at you
Put on a smiling face

"Lean on Me", performed by Bill Withers

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me

So just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Lean on me...

So today I was driving around, and thinking about Mother's Day.
I'm not really satisfied with it. At all.

A couple of reasons:

1. Why should I let society tell me when to recognize and celebrate my Mother?
2. What's so special about the second Sunday in May?
3. If I'm honoring my Mother on that day, then who's going to look after her Mother? Somebody is gonna get neglected at least a little bit.

So...in MY house, this is how we're gonna do it, and why:

Let's examine. Who is your Mother? The one who gave birth to you. Okay. So the center of it all is your birth. Okay. Well, your birthday is already celebrated, and it's all about you, not your Mother. In fact, many folkz DEMAND to be coddled and honored on their birthday, right? Do we usually pause on our birthday to say "Thank You" to our Mothers for bringing us into this world? No.

So this is what we're going to do, at least next year: We're gonna celebrate the day that Motherhood happened in our house. To not get in the way of standard birthday festivities, we're gonna celebrate Mother's day on the day BEFORE MiniMau's birthday.

We're gonna do flowers. Dinner. There WILL be a card.

Know what else? This year, on the day before MY birthday, I'm gonna call my Mother, and thank her for carrying me for those 9 months, and thank her for being cut from *here* to *here* for me. On the day before my wife's birthday, I'm going to call her Mother and thank her for giving birth to my wonderful wife. Get the picture?

For each friend who I'm close enough to remember their birthday, I'm close enough to recognize that that person wouldn't be my friend without their Mother.

Mother's Day.

Know What I'm Sayin'??