Mother’s Day wrap-up

Hope all you mothers out there had a great weekend. I certainly did. There were so many amazing parts to it, I can’t choose just one to blog about today.

Here’s the summary of my weekend, with detailed posts to follow.

It started out Friday night with my 16th wedding anniversary. Yes, Wilson and I have been betrothed for 16 glorious years.  I’ve had people close to me suffer great losses this year so I’ve decided not to let milestones go by without celebrating.

And I love a good surprise.

So I told Wilson we were having dinner at a favorite fancy restaurant in Jersey. The plan was to meet at Penn Station, train home, get the car, and drive to the restaurant. The first time we marked an anniversary at that same restaurant, we ordered champagne.  The tiny flutes cost $20 a piece and Wilson nearly choked on his scotch when he saw the bar bill.

He doesn’t like to overpay.

We happened to have a bottle of Veuve Clicquot we received as a holiday gift so I schlepped it to work Friday morning and kept it chilled in the work fridge all day. Moments before Wilson was to leave his office to meet me at Penn, I showed up with the champagne.

The gesture was enjoyable to him in three ways: spontaneous, romantic, and free.

We enjoyed our bubbly, then headed to Penn. When we arrived at the track I told him we were not going to Jersey, we had other plans in the city. Confused, he followed me out of Penn and into Nick and Stef’s– the steakhouse underneath Madison Square Garden where we met some close college friends for dinner and the Billy Joel concert. When the plan finally became clear to him he was psyched.

Billy rocked! (More on that later.)

The champagne, the surprise, the nostalgia of Billy Joel, and spending time with old friends made it a spectacular night we’ll always remember.

Saturday, I read a story I wrote about motherhood in a show called “Listen to Your Mother” at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. It was a thrilling experience, fraught with tension and drama. Many friends came to see the show and support me, which was touching and humbling and made the experience that much sweeter. (More on that later too!)

After the show, we celebrated at our neighbor’s annual wine tasting party,  featuring 56 wines, and boogying past midnight.

Today, I awoke to several bouquets of spring flowers, adorable, heartfelt cards from my 3 sons (ages 8, 10, and 14), and delicious flower cookies from Wilson.

I took a yoga class and then rushed off to watch my oldest play soccer. It was 75 degrees and sunny and we spent the rest of the afternoon in the back yard just hanging out.

Jacob’s team lost the game (6-0, yikes) and when we got home, our puppy, Brady, had eaten all the flower cookies I had left on our kitchen counter when I rushed out to the game.  But none of that put a damper on my weekend. With so much to celebrate, I feel lucky.

I’m especially grateful when I think about the 276 mothers in Nigeria, spending this Mother’s Day wondering if their girls are alive, abused, tortured and terrified.  In my job, I edit the world page for a news site so I’ve been covering this story for the last three weeks and it’s beyond heartbreaking.

These girls were the light of their families– the smartest ones in their villages– pursuing an education to make a better life. They went to take their final exams and never came home. Ranging in age from 15 to 18, these brave girls were snatched by terrorists from a group called Boko Haram, a name which, loosely translated, means “western education is a sin.”

These girls were targeted just for going to school.

It’s hard for us to comprehend what it’s like to live in a modern world where girls can’t get an education safely, and religious freedom is constantly threatened. But it’s going on in several countries right now.

Let’s keep those courageous girls, and their mothers in our thoughts today and every day until they come home.