The Birth Pangs of Mother's Day Democracy

Tonight we went Mother's Day Shopping at that timeless family institution, Shaw's Supermarket.  This is the very first time I have ever gone "democratic" on the Mother's Day thing.  Up until now, I have acted in a highly elitist role, as a kind of "representative of the public," like the House of Lords or the Electoral College, but this year, the Mother's Day ritual has gone plebiscite.  I decided that the flowers and cards should truly come from the children, rather than merely reflecting my approximation of how the children must feel about Mommy.  Democracy is not looking too good...

First, the flowers.  We went into the walk-in glass refrigerator and I told the boys they should select flowers for Mommy.  I hinted, ever so slightly, that she likes tulips.  Ian picked a beautiful little bouquet, consisting of tulips and non-tulips.  Daniel, however, was taken with a hodge-podge of daisies and other flowers, with some wacky corporate name like "Pinkling Petals Bouquet," and he was in no position to compromise.  Moreover, Daniel felt that perhaps Mommy should have two bouquets, rather than one.  I accepted the principle that one can't bow out of the democracy experiment the first time that the public votes in a Taliban-Anarchist-Maoist coalition, and yielded to the Wisdom of The Electorate.  Ian turns out to have scaled down from the more creative tulip-plus bouquet to a simpler pure-tulip arrangement.   I didn't discover that until I got home, and I suspect he was consciously trying to save me five dollars, to compensate for Daniel's fiscal adventurism.

Then on to cards.  Ian found one with flowers, which Daniel seemed to like.  Then Daniel found another one with flowers, which Daniel liked even more, but Ian didn't.  Eventually Ian found another card with a flower on the cover - in this case, a red flower.  No dice.  I kept pressing my captive parliament to arrive at a two-boy unanimous selection before the assembly should be dismissed.  But that wasn't going to happen; Daniel felt very strongly that his purple-flower card was a better candidate than any of Ian's cards.  After all that, Ian switched out the goopy flower-stuff for a card which says on the front something like, "Mother, you are a blessing."  Daniel disapproved of that one at the outset; he seemed to think it might be blasphemous to call a human being a "blessing."  I tried to explain that "blessing" here meant "gift from God," but he still didn't want the card.

Again, I had to accept that if the boys are to express themselves through greeting cards, they should have the right to choose the card that does the trick, even if it costs twice as much.  Luckily, a couple in the aisle heard we were looking for a card for grandmothers, and they found one, with a rodent on the front, which satisfied all parties.

This year, Mommy will have more flowers, more cards, and items which reflect the unique tastes and sensibilities of her adoring sons.

The people have spoken.

(May 12, 2012)