Today I felt that again
The other day I wrote about Mother’s Day. About the emptiness of spending it away from my oldest son. About waking up and not having him there to give me a kiss, a tight hug, or those little handmade gifts from school that every mother keeps like treasures.
That was what hurt the most. Not living those moments with him.
Then he got sick. Chickenpox. He spent days at home with me and only went back to school today. He was happy. Really happy. Missing his friends and the people who take care of him there. But there was something else too. A different kind of excitement that I couldn’t quite understand at first. I only realised why when we walked in.
Before he got sick, he had been preparing surprises for me for Mother’s Day. And for days he kept telling me:
“Mum, I have a surprise for you. But I can only give it to you at school.”
Today was finally the day.
He gave me a personalised bag he had made himself. Inside there was a drawing of him glued onto a sheet made from egg cartons. There was also a painted t-shirt. And a giant drawing of me, with a description written on the back that he had dictated to his teacher.
Then we painted a chicken together and I wrote down some of the things I love about him. As if it were even possible to fit all of that onto a piece of paper. We turned it into a hat and took photos together.
And I looked at him… so happy. So proud. So excited to finally give me all those things. You could feel the love he had poured into every little detail.
And I left there emotional.
Because in that moment I realised I hadn’t completely lost my Mother’s Day after all. It had simply arrived late.
And maybe it arrived at exactly the right moment. At a time when I really needed that love.
I already admired his teacher’s work so much. Her patience. Her care. The way she looks at the children. But in this phase of my life, all of that has taken on an even deeper meaning.
Because there are professionals who teach. And then there are people who truly hold space for others. People who understand without needing long explanations. Who help our children keep their childhood beautiful even in the middle of life’s biggest changes. Who create happy memories without even realising how much they mean to us.
And today I felt an enormous sense of gratitude.
For the way she helped my son prepare every surprise. For the way she protected his excitement. And maybe even for giving me back, without knowing it, a little piece of a day I thought I had lost.
There really are special people in this world. And sometimes they appear in our children’s kindergarten classrooms.
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