Lady Hiva...the Mother of Our Home

Mother's Day is an interesting holiday. I suppose the day was intended to honor those who sacrificed their bodies, emotions and lives to help us be who we are. However, I think sometimes even a good intention is hard. Unmarried women, childless women, people with mothers who have passed on and women with children who have died all are reminded of what they don't have on this day.

Lady Hiva has felt the emotional sting of all of those situations except her mother is still alive. There have been many Mother's days we wondered what the future holds for us as a family. In 2013 she was even nominated and chosen as The MIGHTY MOM of the Month. At that point we did not have Tau'aho yet and only had 5 children who didn't survive their fragile infant mortality. But that, too, attests to the regal person Lady Hiva is. Lady Hiva is an amazing person. Even though, she as many other women, struggled with the traditional idea of being a mother and not having it become a reality, she was always full of love and kindness for those around her.

Mother's Day this year was fun because our Lucky Dragon was old enough to help prepare. He was so excited to stand in line for See's Candy (Lady Hiva's favorite) and would introduce Lady Hiva to everyone around that would listen, "this is my mommy. Her name is Mommy Bradshaw...or Lady Hiva Bradshaw."

Early in the day he had helped Lady Hiva pick some of the Anemone  she had grown from seeds(cue the pride in her eyes to see a successful garden she grew from scratch) to put in the house. He was so happy with himself. He chose vase (we have a whole collection downstairs) and arranged them himself. 

I took him to choose bunches of flowers that I could make a bouquet for her. I explained it was for Lady Hiva and that we wanted it to be special. I walked him passed the rows and rows of flowers. He chose a bunch of bright pink daisies and when I tried to talk him to looking for other options (not that I did not like pink, all of you know I do, I just wanted him to see all the options before he chose) he chose the same pink flowers every time. Next we chose some roses to go with them. He was determined and kept telling me, "Not these, lets look at what is next." He finally settled on some light pink flowers. So they even went together--so proud of my Lucky Dragon and how he loves flowers.  When he saw I was making an arrangement he wanted to help too. He would cut the stems and I would arrange it.

A team effort--Lucky Dragon selected the flowers, I did the arrangement

He was so happy. Before we went to bed last night he wanted to give them to Lady Hiva. I said we should take a picture (this was about 2200h) and Lady protested that she looked like she was ready for bed and that "...I made her take a photo with the lei I made her last year (that she refused to wear in public by the way haha)." But she relented when she saw throughout this whole exchange he was standing in front of her holding the gifts waiting for the photo.

He was so happy to "surprise" his mum

We eventually had him sit next to it for another photo.

Not sure who taught him sticking out his tongue when there is a picture is a good thing to do, but neither one of like it...

So Happy Mother's Day Lady Hiva! You do so much for us. Your kindness and love towards others benefits us and so many around you. Tau'aho is so far advanced because of your efforts to spend time with him and teach him. Thank you for being a special partner in crime and being my best friend!