The perfect Mother's Day gift may be closer than you think

By Emily Muhlbach - Columnist

I’m trying to decide what to get my mom for Mother’s Day. Each year I go through this, and each year I end up getting her the same thing, candles. I know she appreciates them, but somehow I always end up feeling like a failure because I can never think of anything unique or timeless.

What I’d like to get her is something that she’ll really love, not just appreciate, but that is not as easy as it sounds. I had the idea once to get all five of us kids together for a portrait, but of course that didn’t work cause all five of us are never home at the same time. So then I thought, how about a charm bracelet or necklace with our names on it? But that idea was sacked because the only jewelry she wears is her wedding ring.

I wish I was artistic like my little sister, and I could create a beautiful picture frame or memento box that my mother could treasure for all of time, but of course I’m not very artistic. I don’t even want to remember the last time I tried to create something for a Mother’s Day gift.

I think my painted flowerpot turned out looking like a second-grader’s botched art project. Still, it made my mom laugh when I gave it to her, and laughter is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone, wouldn’t you say? I should just keep giving her homemade gifts, and then she’ll always have a smile on her face.

I tried to give her a gift card one year, so she could go out and treat herself, but that didn’t really work because she ended up buying something for one of my siblings. I never realized how hard it is to give a gift to someone who is so completely unselfish. What do you get someone who doesn’t want anything, who never asks for anything?

My mother is the most non-materialistic person I know. I’ve never known someone so completely detached from worldly possessions. Sometimes it’s frustrating. I just want to go up to her and tell her “Please just want something so I can buy it for you!”

But then I sit back and think about what she really wants. What really occupies her mind is not anything you can buy in a store. It’s not something that you can magically create is shop or art class. What she really wants is just for all her children to have what they want. My mother constantly prays for our happiness, for our lives, and for our futures.

She consistently gives all of herself for her children. Wanting something for herself is a desire she doesn’t even have. She is the one giving the gifts, she is the one creating something for her children, and she is the one who puts laughter in my life.

There is nothing I could possibly give back to her that represents all of that to me, and I realize that in the end; just knowing and appreciating that fact is perhaps the best gift I can give her. Her gift was inside me all along.