Mothers Day

Mother’s day

Scrolling through her mental check list: Kassah still had to do the dishes, vacuum, put away laundry- the laundry! Almost forgot! She rushed down three flights of stairs to the building’s basement laundry room and removed clean clothes from the dryer to start another load of socks. She then folded the dry laundry in two neat stacks; one for her, and the other for Farris. And supper still needs to be done before Farris gets home... back upstairs with the laundry all folded and put away, Kassah plopped down into the first chair she came to. There was no way around it; she was exhausted…

All this was usual, but she got through it without complaint. Looking up to the calendar that hung on the wall beside her precious resting spot, Kassah snuck a peek at what was really stressing her out. Mother’s Day is coming up… She wasn’t a fan of celebrating mothers. She did just as much work as any mother in taking care of and raising Farris throughout his entire eleven year old life so far, but did she have her own holiday? Of course not! She recognized the importance of mothers, but the whole thing frustrated her. She felt unappreciated and forgotten.

Ah well, back to work. Kassah jumped up and went right back to rushing-rushing-rushing.

It was later than normal when Ren finally brought Farris home that night. This only frustrated Kassah even more now, that, she had managed to get dinner done on time, only to have it get cold waiting for them. Not only did they take forever in getting there, but they had the nerve to be talking loudly and laughing on their way in.

Kassah’s best friend, Ren was well schooled, and had taken up the job of tutoring Farris between lunch and dinner most days. This job would naturally fall to Kassah, but as part of raising Farris all on her own, she had to work a full time job and couldn’t find the hours in a day to teach him.

“Use indoor voices please.” The irritation shown all over Kassah’s face. “Now wash up and get to the table. You're late, so the food is cold. You can heat it up if you want.”

Ren raised an eyebrow and placed a hand caringly on her shoulder, “You okay? You seem a little off… Wait-” he quickly removed his hand and jerked back a bit. “are you PMSing?”

“No, I am not!” Kassah flew off the handle. “I do so much work every day and no one even cares enough to show up to diner on time!”

Realizing too late that it was not something he should have said, Ren regretted asking his question but was now sure of its answer. Kassah’s denial was obvious enough, but there was something else bothering her. Turning to Farris, he said “Just remember what we worked on.”

“You guys have secrets now?” Kassah pried.

Ren returned to her with a shy smile (not wanting to push his luck any more than he already had). “I'm off. I’ve got work tonight.” He gave his friend a quick kiss on her reddened pouty cheek and was out the apartment door in a minute. Ren walked down the hall red faced. Good luck, Farris. I sure wouldn’t want to deal with her right now…

In nearly no time at all, Mother’s day had come and Kassah was still under quite the spell of irritability. Getting up, Farris found his sister already in the kitchen. Her hair was a long un-brushed mess and her tired eyes made her look as if the slightest touch might make her fall over. Kassah gave him a look that was an almost strained sadness. Her gaze quickly turned downward to the food she had been preparing. “Good morning. Here, eat some breakfast, Honey. ” she said, and handed Farris a plate full of various fruit slices.

As Farris sat down to eat, a million frustrated thoughts ran through Kassah’s head. Not even a thank you? No one recognizes me for anything!

“Hey, Kas?” Farris interrupted her mental rant. “I made this for you.” From his pocket, he pulled out what appeared to be a slightly crumpled homemade envelope. He held it up to her, blushing nervously, and Kassah took it. The card inside was uneven and had a corner that was bent much out of shape- the pictures (though with evident effort) were poorly drawn and off center, but on the inside was a short message, and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Happy Mother’s Day.

Kassah’s vision blurred as she started to tear up, “Farris, what is this?”

“Ren told me about it.” Farris started with a smile, still red. “He said that having babies isn’t the most of what makes a mom a mom. A mom is the one who takes care of you, and raises you right, and loves you the most.” He shrugged. “So… that makes you my mom.” Kassah started to cry. “So is it alright if I call you Mom today?”

Kassah scooped up Farris into a hug, “You can call me Mom whenever and however much you want!” Crying, she held her son tightly. You're right. She thought. That does make me a mom… a mom who loves Mother’s day.