Mother’s Day–Take 2

While I stand by the sentiment of my first Mother’s Day post, I have to admit that today was full of emotional land mines.

The neighbor who I barely know who wanted to hug me…  the Facebook posts…. the TV shows…

And the acquaintance who I ran into at the grocery store.  We had known each other when our girls were in elementary school; we met at church, both of us attempting to ground our kids in some sort of spiritual truth.  We had even spent Christmas Eve together one year, but we never really reached that “friend” level.  And she had not heard of Molly’s death.

“How’s Molly?”   There is no easy answer, but in this case I attempted to mutter a non-answer and ask about her daughter.  No go.  She asked again.   “How’s Molly?”   So, I had to answer with the truth, and I was tearing up, and the acquaintance was embarrassed.  And we there we were in the frozen foods. 

She did no wrong by asking about Molly.  No wrong at all.  But after two years, I am not expecting the question, so it caught me off guard.  On Mother’s Day.   And it is very, very sad.  And I think I’ll protect myself a bit and stay home for the rest of the day.