A lonely first Mother's Day

Well, as you know, today is Mother's Day (in the States and here in Guatemala too). Being with L on this day is a prayer answered, I can tell you. I prayed very hard that we would be together this Mother's Day since the last two (especially last year) have been difficult.

But this morning I felt very lonely seeing all the other families gathering to celebrate this day. By day's end, I was feeling much better -- a pattern I have noticed these last few days. In the morning the day ahead looks so long, but by its end I realize we are one day closer to being with Glenn and one day closer to home.

Well, let me start from the morning.

We actually made it through an entire mass! They cleaned the bathrooms for Mother's Day, so it wasn't bad having to go two times (one right before mass started and one at the end of the homily). I'm glad she's potty trained, but sometimes it's just a bit much!

After mass we strolled down Avenida Reforma and then back to Plaza Obelisco because on Sundays both Avenidas (Reforma and Las Americas) are closed to cars.

In fact, I was doing what I wanted to do yesterday but with more success.

L just loves water, as you know by now. So she ran around at the fountain at Plaza Obelisco. But then we had to take a detour to the Westin Camino Real to use the bathroom (again!)

Then we went back to the Obelisco and got our picture taken by one of the photographers there. It came out really nice.

I wanted to document this first Mother's Day - even if I wasn't in the best of moods. (I'll try to scan it in tomorrow to post on the blog)

We walked up the Avenida Las Americas a little bit -- again what I wanted to do yesterday.

There were so many families out, which was nice in some ways but also made me feel a bit isolated. Still, it was a good distraction for us both.

I had to figure out where to go to lunch. I wanted to try the Cafe Vienes at the Westin, but there was a long line. I thought of a couple other places, but I was tired and hot and hungry, and I couldn't decide where to eat.

We ended up at San Martin and I totally don't want to go there anymore. The chicken sandwich I ordered just did not smell good to me! I ended up eating half of L's pizza.

It looked like it was about to pour, so we headed home for hopefully a nap. But that didn't really happen. She was wound up from all the running around, plus it was kind of late (for us at least).

Then, despite having the "do not disturb" sign on the door, the cleaning staff called me to say they wanted to clean my room. I would have said no, but they had taken all the towels.

So I was flipping channels while the woman cleaned the room, and landed on a mass from Fatima. This totally entranced L. I have to say the music was very nice. So I kept that on to calm her.

Then that mass was over, and I flipped to the Pope's mass from Jordan (there are at least three Catholic networks here, including EWTN). This also calmed her. The music was really beautiful (some beautiful Arabic music during communion).

She chilled with me on the couch and fell asleep for about 20 minutes or so. But when I tried to move her to the bed, she woke up.

I needed to get out. While it was a bit of a downer seeing other families together on this day, it would have been downright depressing to stay in.

So we headed to our second home, Fontabella Plaza, because they were having a Mother's Day performance, which turned out to be really cute. It was a mother and daughter (of about 12) with a band, singing songs and dancing.

Of course, all L wanted to do was run around the fountain. But I still got to enjoy the music -- and a gelato. I got her a lemon one (because she was wearing white) and I got myself chocolate (it's my day, right?)

So we hung out there for almost two hours, which was actually really nice. But we had to leave when she got a little crazy -- no nap, lots of running around, gelato and a lollipop!

We walked around the mall a little bit with her in the stroller to calm her down.

Then we went home for some play time and dinner. It was a pretty quiet evening. We danced a little to some videos on TV. At first when I started dancing, L said "no!" But I told her it was "el día de Mommies" and I could do what I wanted.

We ended the day watching a program on baby monkeys. She loved it and so did I. It was too cute!

By the end of the day, I realized I have it pretty darn good. I know there are other mothers out there separated from their children in one way or another.

I also thought about L's other mothers - her birth mother and birth grandmother, and her foster mother. We should celebrate them on this day too. Without them, Little Miss L wouldn't be with me to celebrate my first Mother's Day.