The Mother Of All Holidays Dads Challenged To Do The Right Thing

Men, if your wives are a bit distant with you today, you probably messed up.

Either you forgot to help your children do something nice for Mother’s Day or your Mother’s Day plans went awry.

Take heart, you’re not alone. Even the most thoughtful men have watched helplessly as their Mother’s Day surprises fizzled like damp firecrackers.

Take veterinarian Rick Hutton. The Mother’s Day he planned last year left his talkative wife, Lynne, speechless.

She had been sick but continued to shuttle their three children to all their activities. Rick decided to give her rest and relaxation for Mother’s Day, so he rented a hot tub for a week.

Lynne was away from home when it arrived. When she returned, she found the hot tub on their deck overlooking the Rathdrum prairie.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I was thrilled.”

But within the week, a painful chicken pox-like rash attacked her children. The kids had soaked in the tub much more than the adults had.

The doctor blamed the rash on the hot tub. The children stayed home from school for a week with Lynne as their nurse. So much for rest and relaxation….

“I thought the whole thing was a good idea,” Lynne says, genuinely grateful for her husband’s thoughtfulness. “But Rick says this year I get flowers.”

John Tindall grimaces at the mention of Mother’s Day. His daughter Elli is 2, so any Mother’s Day celebration for his wife, Jackie, depends on him.

“It’s so stressful trying to find just the right thing to do,” he says, then adds with a grin, “I’ve already taught her not to expect too much.”

Jackie gets a plant today, probably an ivy geranium. John’s ponderings this year led him to a solution for many Mother’s Days to come.

“I’ll get a plant that should last until the end of the year, then it will die in time for me to replace it next Mother’s Day,” he says, with a triumphant smile.

Super One Foods came to the rescue of hundreds of dads who were still wracking their brains Saturday for Mother’s Day ideas.

For a mere $3.98, children could bring home a heart-shaped cake they decorated, a card containing a photo of them holding the cake, a flower for mom and a proud smile.

“Fathers were so grateful,” says Wayne Hudlemeyer, manager of Super One’s Coeur d’Alene store.

Norbert Siegler could have benefited from such a deal years ago when he forgot about Mother’s Day until it arrived.

“I came downstairs, and spelled out on the kitchen table in pinto beans was Happy Mother’s Day,” says his wife, Iris, with a patient sigh. He’d picked up the idea from the preschool Iris operated.

“They just don’t get it,” says Konni Leichner, laughing over the struggles her husband and two sons go through each Mother’s Day. “This year I just picked out my own gift.”

Which is not a bad idea if family harmony is at stake. Mike Regan is fairly certain he understood correctly his wife Laurie’s Mother’s Day wishes.

She works, he works and their son is 15 months old. She has pined for time the three of them can share. He’s planned a long walk or family bike ride for today.

“Just something simple,” he says, then adds hopefully, “I hope I’m not wrong.”

Bill Burch found the key to Mother’s Day success when his wife Teri was pregnant with their first child years ago. Mother’s Days since have been a piece of cake in the Burch home.

“I was hugely pregnant, feeling awful,” Teri says. “I open the box he gives me and look at an ugly rock. I wanted to cry.”

But, at Bill’s urging, she took the rock from the box, turned it over and saw that it was a beautiful geode. Under the geode was a poem he’d written about feeling ugly on the outside while magic is happening on the inside.

“It was so sweet. I cried,” Teri says.

Hmmm … something to think about for next year.

, DataTimes