Mother's Day 2006

I have been blessed in so many ways and having this "bonus" time is one of those many blessings. I was able to share this Mother's Day with my wife and family truly making the most of the day. I know last Mother's Day was a very big dud for my wife because we didn't do anything. This year I wanted to ensure my wife did the things she wanted to do. I know she wanted to go to church this morning and we as a family went to church. It has become very important to my wife to attend church and I was so happy to accompany her along with the children this morning.

Yes, we attended a Catholic mass because this is what my wife wanted to do. I still have some problems with the spirituality aspect of the Catholic service but the day belonged to my wife and I think she was very happy to attend the service with the entire family. As a quick aside; I did an inventory (I know I shouldn't do this because I should concern myself with ONLY myself but I couldn't help it) of the parishioners in the Catholic Mass. It really is NOT a diverse lot; either the parishioners were over 60 years old or they were Hispanic and Philippino descent. Please do not take this the wrong way I am not being demeaning or racist. This is what I saw as the majority in the congregation.

The one thing I must say about the Catholic mass is that it is very structured. I have been attending mass since I was very young and it doesn't matter if I am in New Jersey, California, Guatemala or Italy the masses are the same. There maybe little things that they do differently but the structure is essentially the same. Much like the Gamblers Anonymous Meetings structure is very important because we (I) as a compulsive gambler have lacked structure for so long going to a meeting with structure is essential to recovery and also comfort. The same can be said of the Catholic Mass the structure becomes comfort and I know my wife feels very comfortable in the Catholic Mass. I on the other hand like I said am still struggling with the spirituality of the mass.

Yes, I do have a Higher Power (God) but my Higher Power is not allied with any religious organization or sect. It is not male or female it is a being greater than me. My Higher Power does not judge and does not instruct me what to do it only guides me in the proper path and essentially it is up to me to make the proper decision. My Higher Power does not care if you are rich, poor, white, black, red, orange or yellow; it treats all like Human Beings. I don't know if this conflicts with the Catholic religion but I believe all religions had the same common goal early on which is getting in touch with a spiritual being and becoming a better person. Somewhere along the line we as humans have clouded this concept. Which is why I look to my Higher Power for guidance and so far in the past 14 1/2 months I have been guided down the right path.

So much for my aside; sorry!!! After church we grabbed some bagels and headed down to the beach. Me being me; I did not have a solid plan in place because my wife only said she wanted to go the beach. I didn't think it would be warm enough for the children to go swimming because San Diego beaches can be rather cool this time of year even though it was 85 degrees where we live it was only 67 degrees at the beach and also the Pacific Ocean is rather cold as well. We got to the beach and it was overcast as it usually is in San Diego and went for a walk on the beach as a family. The children immediately went towards the water where they played for a good 40 minutes trying to find sea shells and dodging the waves.

Yes, I made a mistake and should have taken the swimsuits for the kids so they could go into the ocean and really have a good time. I messed this up!! After finishing on the beach we went to the little boardwalk/park adjacent to the beach. The children wanted to go on some rides but the prices were ridiculous; $5 for one person to ride a roller coaster. Now I am going to date myself; I remember when it was only 50 cents for the same ride on the New Jersey Boardwalk. We talked the kids out of going on a ride and found a park where the could play for free. It didn't matter to either my daughter or son once they were at the park near the bay where they could play in the water and on the playground. My wife and I watched them go from the playground to the water and back again several times. I believe they had a very good time.

My plan was to find a very casual restaurant for an early dinner but somehow I didn't have any confidence in this plan so we headed for a fail-safe Italian restaurant not far from the beach. The wait wasn't too long and we all had a very nice dinner. My son and daughter are getting so big because I remember going to this restaurant not so long ago and asking for a high chair for my son but not anymore. He is able to sit on his own and cut his own food. My how they grow-up so quickly. Also I remember when it really was a chore to go out for dinner with the kids but now they behave themselves so well and I couldn't ask for a better daughter or son; these two are major blessings in my life.

Finally we headed home to watch the finale of "Survivor". Unfortunately for the children the final vote came much too late for them as tomorrow is a school day. We were able to enjoy the first half as a family. It truly was a great day and hopefully my wife shares my sentiments. As I wrote earlier my life is filled with blessings and today just like all the other days in my life; it was a blessed day.

I would like to wish all the Mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day. I would like to wish my Mom a very happy Mother's Day because without you in my life I would be missing a HUGE blessing. Thanks, Mom I love you very much!!! Also; to my Mother-in-law thank you so very much for your love and support of not only me but the entire family. Finally, to my stepmother thank you for making my Dad a very happy person and please get well soon.