Appreciation

Last Sunday, as you probably know, was Mother's Day, or as the Son of Never Stops Eating calls it, Mom Appreciation Day.  The family showered me with love and attention,  homemade Mother's Day cards, and lunch at a restaurant of my choice.  On Monday morning I woke up, got ready for work, and went into the kitchen to get some breakfast.  The Son of Never Stops Eating was already there, preparing his lunch.  I guess he felt like it was time for the Mother's Day festivities to formally end, because we had the following conversation:

Son:  Mom, Mom Appreciation Day is over.
Me:  Every day should be Mom Appreciation Day.
Son:  Mom, you have to give other people a chance for appreciation, too!

I wanted to ask him why we could only appreciate one group of people at a time, but he apparently had more important things to do like blow things up on Minecraft, or something like that.  Whatever he had to do, it did not involve putting away the peanut butter and bread; Mom Appreciation Day was clearly over.  I think he might have been a bit annoyed because I had informed him a few days prior to Mom Appreciation Day that there is no formal "Teenager Appreciation Day". 

I'll be honest; I like Mom Appreciation Day.  I think most people like to feel appreciated, even when it's not Mother's Day or Father's Day or any of the days or weeks set aside for appreciation for specific groups of people, like teachers or nurses.  But most of the time, it seems like instead of appreciating other people, we emphasize calling out the people who annoy us, or don't do what we want them to do, or who don't do what we think they should do. 

I was thinking about this the last time that my parents visited, for Easter.  My mother became distraught at being in what was to her an unfamiliar place, and the visit, which had been planned for three days, ended in less than 24 hours.  My father looked tired and frustrated, and I thought after they left that caregivers to people with Alzheimer's must be among the most unappreciated people on the planet.  Our society is not the greatest at taking care of the caregivers.  We admire them, we express respect for them, but we don't really appreciate the work they do; if our society did, we'd make it easier on them.

So Dad, if you read this, I appreciate you. 

A few years ago, for Lent, I started a project that involved writing notes or e-mails or sending texts to people who I appreciated, for one reason or another.  I am sorry to report that this project lasted about two weeks; I got distracted by work and teenager stuff and then Lent was over.  Perhaps I should pick that project back up. 

I have a long list of people I appreciate:  I appreciate the counselors at the high school, because I can't imagine having to coordinate class schedules for four thousand students. I'm sure that is a gargantuan undertaking, and they probably get a lot of unhappy people before it's all done.  I appreciate my friends and fellow community members who have included my son in their conversations, even when I know they really don't want to talk about Legos or the evil Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.  After several hours driving around with a student driver, I definitely appreciate every person who works as a driver's education instructor. Anyone who does that for a living must have serious nerves of steel.

I know that showing more appreciation to others isn't going to bring about world peace or solve the major issues of our time, but maybe if we took the Son of Never Stops Eating's advice and gave out more appreciation and fewer complaints, it might make this cold, hard world a slightly better place.