I am writing this on Mother’s Day, though it will be the day after when you receive it. No longer Mother’s Day. Just Regular Day.
One single-mom Mother’s Day my sons brought me breakfast in bed on a giant piece of plywood they had decorated with black marker. Happy Mother’s Day and drawings all over it. I don’t remember what was served. It was the giant tray that was so memorable. I think of it every Mother’s Day; and on many Regular Days, too.
This morning I sent Bitmoji Mother’s Day texts to my sisters and a few friends, although this is the very thing I say is killing the card business. MY card business!
Texting, email, Bitmoji, emoji–all of these things. And yet they’re so easy. You can send them at the very last moment. And they’re free. And cute. And I do it, too! You have to get the card in the mail in advance, or you’ll risk having it arrive on Regular Day. Right? Just like this letter.
Shouldn’t we all celebrate Regular Day, though? Each day, as they say, is a gift. It truly is. And yet we usually fail to notice. Most of us are healthy and fine enough that we get complacent about each new day. But we could be celebrating Regular Day. And those who are battling a terrible illness or who have a loved one who is would love to have Regular Day celebrations.
So how about we get in the habit of doing so? Send that sweet Bitmoji, text (or, God forbid, card). Make breakfast in bed for someone in your house. Bring a flower or a slice of cake to someone you care about, even on Regular Day. Mow the grass for someone (thank you, Oliver). Call someone you love.
So, Happy Regular Day! May you have many more just as wonderful as this one!
“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations
If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.
Thanks for listening,
Kay
P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”