My feelings about my status as a mother have always been complicated at best. When Mother’s Day comes around, I celebrate my mother, not myself. This year I baked her a cheesecake. In a unplanned change of the status quo, when I was choosing a bouquet of flowers for mom, I decided I wanted flowers too and ended up buying two bouquets, mingling them, and splitting them into two vases.

Maybe one day I will publish the companion compartment draft to this post. Today is not that day. Today I celebrate my mom, and in a small way, myself.