Mother’s Day has generally been a day of mixed emotions for me: It has represented sadness and regret at what I couldn’t have with my mother, and happiness at what I can have with my beloved daughters.

My youngest, Anela, is on a work-related trip of a lifetime in Argentina, so obviously she couldn’t be here.  I miss her a lot, yet the work she is doing there is so important, and I rejoiced that she had this opportunity.  And you know what?  It’s not about the day itself: it’s about the relationship that we have.

This year I determined ahead of time that I was going to only treasure what I have and focus completely on my time with Leilani, who offered to do whatever I wanted to do.  What a gift she gave me!

I didn’t want flowers or candy. What I wanted was time and togetherness, and that I got.  Had I wanted to go to brunch, Leilani would have taken me someplace nice. What I really wanted to do was go up to Rowena Crest to see the wildflowers (the beach would’ve been my first choice, but I knew that traffic coming home would be a nightmare).  And I haven’t seen the wildflowers for several years now, so it was a good second choice.

After a lovely drive up the Gorge…

 

 

 

 

…we had a yummy brunch in Hood River, which Musubi tried to kakaroach.  Smoked salmon scramble.

We then headed up to Rowena, passing through the tiny town of Mosier on the way, and then up into the foothills.

Just as we got up to Rowena Crest and parked the car, Leilani’s phone rang.  You know, sometimes I just wanna karang technology, especially when it’s recalcitrant and obnoxious, but oh my gosh, on Sunday I rejoiced in it. Because Leilani and Anela both have iPhones, they have Face Time. Which, up until then, I’d never heard of.

And why is this important?  Because, oh how my heart jumped for joy, we could talk in real time to Anela! In Argentina!! It was mind-boggling, really.  Especially when you consider how far away it is.

Over six.thousand.miles. away. And we could see Anela and talk to her as if she were right next to us.

Absolutely unrealz.  See up in the corner on the right?  That’s me and Leilani as Anela was seeing us.  We could even turn the phone around so that she could see the wildflowers!

I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to be talking to both my daughters…as if we were all sitting there together.  Technology. Sunday I was so incredibly grateful for it.

Anela had to get back to work, so we hung up, reluctantly, but oh so happy that we could connect.

Leilani and I got out and walked around, first looking at the view towards Idaho (yeah, yeah, I know. Many miles away yet). The Columbia River was pretty placid.

The Violet-Green Swallows were darting everywhere, and I was fortunate enough to be able to catch one in flight.  Can you see it?

No?  Try look again.

Cool, yeah?

We could see Mt Adams across the river.

The wildflowers, Lupine and Arrowhead Balsamroot, were stunning. The combination of purple and gold is one of my favorite color combos. The only problem was that it was about noon, and the colors were diffused by the light directly overhead, and it was hard to get good photos.

Can you see Mt Adams across the way?

Oh, the beauty of it all!

Incredible.

We took a selfie… but ho, so bright da sun!  We were both squinting.

Barn!

We were blessed with a warm, sunshiny day; kinda like the tuna in the middle of a sammich.  Rain on either side of the day, but perfection on Sunday.

Heading back down the Gorge, we rejoiced in the time we’d been able to spend together, made even better by being able to Face Time with Anela.

This had been a fabulous Mother’s Day.  I feel so blessed to have the kind of relationship that I do with my girls. It doesn’t just happen, you know. It takes listening ears, a heart committed to putting the others first, a willingness to admit I’m wrong when I am,  and a desire to love, respect, accept, and forgive.  To be pono at all times. It’s a journey that I’m glad I’m on, and on Mother’s Day, I reaped the blessings of having the kind of day that was everything I’d hoped it’d be.