Mother’s Day wishes

    Mother’s Day arrives this weekend; marking a time to celebrate the women we owe our lives to. Because, let’s face it, without a mother, none of us would be here.
    It also means I have less than a week to figure out what to get my mother and my wife to celebrate their day.
    When it comes to picking out gifts, I must admit, I am terrible. For some reason, waiting until the last minute seems to be my modus operandi. I wait far too long to start thinking about gift ideas, and then once I have an idea, I usually put off getting this gift until the last possible minute.
    Send me to a store, and I somehow instantly forget everything there is to know about what I am looking for. It is almost as if I have undergone some sort of mind wipe the minute I open the store’s door.
    “What size does your mother/wife wear?” a clerk will ask me. I have no clue, so maybe clothing is not the way to go.
    “What kind of chocolate do they like?” Sounds like an easy question, but when you are faced with a myriad of choices at Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe, I go blank. One year, I actually called a former co-worker of my wife’s to ask her “What kind of chocolate does my wife like?” I’m sure the clerk got a good laugh out of that one.
    Christmas and birthdays are even more difficult since they require multiple gifts. Last year, I lucked out for my wife’s birthday. She had wanted to see a rock concert, and as fate would have it, one of her favorite group’s — Bon Jovi — was performing in Massachusetts on the exact date of her birthday. That was a no-brainer, but figuring out how to top that one is going to be very tricky.
    When it comes to Mother’s Day gifts, my mother has gotten somewhat of a shaft through the years. Since Mother’s Day typically falls around the same time as my birthday, I’m pretty sure I short-changed her in the gift department. In fact, there have been many years when Mothers Day and my birthday fell on the exact same day. On those occasions, I am positive she took a back seat to my childhood birthdays.
    I asked her once how she felt about that, and she replied as any mother would, “You are all the gift I need.” Touching? Yes, but it’s still a cop-out. Somehow I have to find a way to convince Willie Nelson to perform in Bangor, Houlton or Presque Isle in the next few years so I can score a homerun with that present.
    I’m anxiously waiting for the day when our two children can come up with their own presents for Mother’s Day. But that does not solve my birthday/holiday dilemma. Now I know why my father always said, “go pick out something nice for your mother.”
    Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for The Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.