So… I thought a lot about the Mother’s Day money making machine this year.The commercialism of the event. The way expectations lead to disappointment.

Why?

Because, I have to admit, almost every year I’m just a little disappointed by Mother’s Day. Every year I persist in thinking, oh, maybe I’ll get whisked away for a night! Oh, maybe I’ll get a massage! Hm, maybe we’ll go out for dinner!

It frustrates me becuase I always have very nice, low-key days on Mother’s Day. I get breakfast in bed, I laze around without feeling guilty and then my day goes on as normal. Which is nice. But not much more than nice.

Isn’t nice okay? Why do I expect more than nice? Because of all the ads screaming at us for weeks  beforehand that we deserve something super special, something expensive, something that represents what we really mean to our families.

It’s a bogus expectation.  I want to get back to the basics. Let’s just enjoy our families and be together and forget about all the frou frou.

We were on New England Cable News yesterday, promoting the book. At the very end of the interview, Karen Swenson — a drop dead, gorgeous anchor — asked us,  “What’s the best Mother’s Day gift you’ve ever gotten?”

We blanked. (I may have been a little dazzled by Karen’s pearly whites.)

I laughed, widened my eyes, frantically wracked my brain and stalled for time.

I thought to myself, hmmm, I don’t get gifts from my husband (his explanation is that I’m not his mother) … so… do you mean the drawings I get from my kids? And anyway, when IS the last time I’ve been given something special for Mother’s Day?

Then I got home and felt like a total idiot. My kids make me breakfast in bed every Mother’s Day and it’s a treat that I love. It reminds me of the good old days when I used to sleep until 10am.

I sure wish my brain had snapped to attention and I hadn’t been so darn side-tracked by worrying about whether or not my arms looked fat.