Beautiful tributes from all of you, I didn't want to start a new thread, but this is my contribution. It was printed in my local paper last Tuesday. The son I am writing about is my son that is in the Navy. Here is my contribution.

My Most Memorable Mother’s Day

The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. It was exciting! I was preparing for a date! With my son. He said he had plans for us on that Sunday afternoon and he told me what time to be ready. It was Mothers Day, and he was our only child in the area.

I didn’t know what he had planned but was eagerly looking forward to what he was offering. Most of all an afternoon in his company, just he and I. He had been living at home and then moved into his own apartment and I missed his company.

He finally came, a little late, but that is normal for him. I was pacing the floors and watching for his truck to come around the corner. The only time he had been on time in his entire life was when he was born exactly on his due date!

He came in the door with a corsage in his hand, which he lovingly attached to my shirt.
He had dressed up and he looked great, and my Mother’s heart burst with pride. I knew that he would be a good catch for some lucky young woman. He just hadn’t had any luck finding the right one.

Out the door, we went, and he said, “I am taking you to a place that I know you pass by every single day, yet you have never visited it.” I was intrigued, but trusting his judgment as he had inherited a love of the same things that I love.

He was right, straight down Main Street to the Anna B. Millikin home. We took a delightful tour through the mansion of the founders of Millikin University. We were the only ones there so we had a one-on-one guide to tell us all about that beautiful home. We could oooh and ahhh and asked questions she patiently answered us. He was right, it was the first time that I had been there and I have lived-in Decatur all of my life and lived on the west end for 10 years.

As we were leaving, she mentioned the Powers-Bachrach mansion was also open for tours today, so off we went. It is another beautiful home rich in Decatur history. We toured through that home admiring the beauty and the luxury and the wonderful job of preservation the Bachrach family has performed.

Then to top it off, he took me for a tour of Greenwood Cemetery. Now I know that does not sound exciting to you, but this is the child who with his Mother longed to see Arlington cemetery while visiting Washington D.C. It was the highlight of our trip! We love to read the inscriptions and imagine the stories behind them. He also inherited my writing genes so it is easy for us to start a story and the other one finish it. Sometimes they produced outlandish results!

He had taken the haunted Decatur tours and as we went around and looked at the old mausoleums and the gravestones, we marveled at the rich history of Decatur.

It was a wonderful rewarding day with my youngest son. One that I will never forget. I watched my son walk out the door and I was thankful for the man that he had grown to be. I am proud of both my sons, and all of my children. We have no steps in our family. We have five children, nine grandchildren, two more on the way. Mother’s day is a special day for me.