It has been our tradition to spend our Sunday afternoon at my husband's mother's house ever since we started going out in 2010. My mother-in-law is the most caring, the most loving and the most thoughtful person I have ever known in my life (apart from my late father and my late grandmother). It is always like a feast every Sunday, even though she doesn't expect any visitor except me and her son. So we always have leftover to bring home which we will have to eat for the next few days.
Today is even more special because it's Mother's Day. John and I were running late because he decided to watch some episodes of Game of Thrones (even though he had already finished the whole series but he decided to watch it all over again). My mother-in-law was expecting us to be there at exactly 2PM for lunch, but we were late. I woke up at 8 o'clock this morning, had breakfast but then after half an hour of eating my breakfast, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 1:30 PM. Wow!!! I needed that sleep!!! John had been watching TV all that time, and only woke me up to get ready to go to Mum's house.
It is only a 3-minute drive from our house to my mother-in-law's house anyway. As we were on our way there, she phoned us and so I answered and greeted her "Happy Mother's Day" and she greeted me too "Happy Mother's day to you, mother-to-be." I said, "Thank you, Mum!" And then she said right after, "How long?" I replied, "5 weeks to go now, Mum." And then she laughed, saying, "No, haha!!! How long before you're here?" I laughed as well, because she has always been like that, jumping from one train of thought to another. I told her then that we would be there in a minute.
And this was what she prepared for us (just for the three of us - me, my husband and Mum). We had pastitso (a Greek version of lasagne), pork souvlakia (kabobs), Greek salad, bread, steamed beetroot, olives, feta cheese, and fresh fruits. The pizza on our plates were specially home made by John as our Mother's Day present to Mum. After the main course, we also had loukoumades (Greek version of donuts) for dessert.
John and Mum each had a glass of shandy (beer mixed with lemonade), and I had a glass of sparkling water. I have not had soda or softdrinks in a while because I'm trying to be as healthy as possible with my food and drink choices. But since today is quite special, I guess a small glass of soda water wasn't too bad.
After lunch, I could hardly move. John and I slumped down in the lounge and we were like stranded on the sofa like whales with a plankton's indigestion. Mum didn't even want me to help her with the dishes. She said my belly shouldn't be touching the sink and she just wanted me to sit on the sofa and relax.
And apart from all that, as if those weren't all enough, she also gave me Mother's Day presents today. I had a box of chocolates and a small vase of flowers she carefully handpicked from her own garden.
Truly, not just on Mother's Day but every single day, I thank God for my mother-in-law. She's not like any mother-in-law who always finds fault with her daughter-in-law. She loves me like her own daughter and always sees the good in me. She knows my birthday and my name day off by heart and knows all my favourite food. Because I love pork, she'd grill some pork chops just for me. She knows that I love my pineapple with salt. She also knows that I eat prawns with white vinegar. She buys Snicker bars and Bundaberg guava drink because she knows I love them. And when I thank her, she'd say "What for? I love you and I will do anything for you."
What a beautiful thing to say. And those are not just mere words. She does always give lots of sacrificial love to everyone. She is my inspiration and my role model that I strive to be a good wife to my husband. I am forever grateful for her unconditional love and for the joy that she brings me, knowing that I am loved by someone that only a selfless and an ideal mother could ever do.
So to all those mothers whose love is unconditional and sacrificial, I just want to say you are all amazing and wonderful people. You deserve to feel special not only today but every day of your lives. Happy Mother's Day!!!
This is also a freewrite exercise using @mariannewest's prompts, "sleep" and "stranded on the sofa like whales with a plankton's indigestion" and @shadowspub's word prompts, "train" and "sparkling".
All photos are my own unless otherwise stated.
