On the other hand, I love NEW YEAR's EVE celebrations. I believe that's because in our family, we have always celebrated the new year's arrival with great fun, food and a bed time that didn't come until past midnight.
CHRISTMAS? Since we've lived in the US, I've come to truly enjoy that tradition. I've been especially impressed by the fact that almost EVERYONE I know gets together with family. The fun, the food, the joy...what's not to like? Not growing up with a christmas tradition, I must say that the "holidays" is the only thing I look forward to in winter. Same thing with Thanksgiving Day. We always celebrate this special day like one of ours...after all, why wouldn't we? It's Turkey Day!!
So it seems there's a trend here... If a "special day" necessitates people gathering to eat, drink and be merry, I'm there. Otherwise...Not that important to me.
And there are those days that only gets celebrated for "you"... the birthdays, father's day and mother's day.
BIRTHDAYS, I love (despite the ever-increasing mathematical value of my age that's just about starting to be not-as-looked-forward-to anymore). It's an excuse to (of course!) get together with people and eat, drink and be merry.
FATHER's DAY... is one of those "made up" days. I call my dear dad on that day....but I don't feel like I love him any more on that day...or again I don't feel that he feels more loved on that "special" day either. Regardless, we do it.
And....the MOTHER's DAY. Of course, with the loss of my mother when I was 9 made this day a little difficult for a few years, but now I truly love my step mother (and I really never refer to her as my "step" mother except here, to clarify), and have called her year after year on this special day, to wish her well and to wish to be together to see many more Mother's Days. However, I never felt like I loved her more that day than other days. Of course I know she enjoys being special on that day, and us girls try to make that happen (my sisters lot more so, as they're physically closer to her back in Turkey). I felt like I have not loaded a more-than-necessary meaning to mother's day. I sometimes found it a bit insincere even... Regardless, when I saw Yuksel creating some "build up" for that day from a few weeks ago, preparing for it, etc., I started feeling a little different. I'm not really a "motherly" new mom. Sometimes, because of my relative "calmness", or "not-worriedness" make me doubt myself into thinking whether I'm not a good mother (I quickly diffuse those thoughts with self-pursuasion/rationalization by saying "no, no, no...it is BECAUSE I am calm, that I am a good mother". Don't care what you think. I belive it! Ha!). So the feelings I felt last Sunday, during my first Mother's Day, came as a little surprise to me....as I actually felt like a MOM, with full emotions and everything. I got up that morning, remembered my mothers (both of them with great affection), my aunts, my Ayla Teyze, my mother-in-law, my best friends who are also great mothers. Then I went into the living room, where Yuksel and Derin were waiting for me to get up and join them... And I thought how precious, how beautiful that "picture" was. I am the luckiest person in the world for the man I love, and I feel that emotion has grown even more with our little Derin joining us.
So...do I like these special days any more now? I'm not sure. But I sure love the idea of remembering. I enjoyed mother's day because it gave me an excuse to stop and think about myself as a mother, and you know what? I LOVED IT!!
Enjoy a few photos from that day, my first "mother's day".
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| Yuksel & Derin giving me my gift |
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| If only Derin understood what was going on :) |
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| Derin wants his gift back |
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| Derin giving "the other mom at home" her gift |
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| Mom already wearing her Mother's Day gift (the letter "d") |
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| "Daddy, tell me a story!" |
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| Dad showing Derin how to blow the leaves off of that flower (no idea what it's called) |
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| While waiting for our table for dinner at the restaurant |
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| Derin sat in a restaurant style high chair for the first time...seemed to enhjoy it with his friend Elmo |
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| tickle tickle tickle!! |
Bye for now.
