Mother's Day in Oklahoma City and the #selfcare you need - MetroFamily Magazine
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Mother’s Day in Oklahoma City and the #selfcare you need

by Callie Collins

Reading Time: 3 minutes 

Oklahoma City family fun is all about having a good time and making memories together.

I don’t want to remember any particular holiday with regret or a sense of wistful sort-of contentment. The truth is, we, the moms, aren’t always having as much fun as everyone else.

Mother’s Day is coming up. It’s Sunday, May 14. I have one key piece of advice to share about Mother’s Day: make your own plans.

Sometimes, only you can know what you need.

Every year, we go to brunch and then I kind of hang out, wait to see if my husband has any plans. Note to self, every year: he doesn’t. We’ve spent more than one Mother’s Day afternoon wandering aimlessly around the mall. I’ve decided for the last couple of years to plan the day myself and it has been a relief for everyone involved.

I’m not going to remember one more trip to the mall so I’ve already made my family’s reservation at Picasso Café in the Paseo District. We went last year and it made for a terrific day because we walked around with my Mom and looked at the area’s surrounding art.

That I do remember.

There are so many cool community events you could choose to attend and the great thing is that most of them are before the actual date. You don’t have to be in a rush to get somewhere. Make a brunch reservation somewhere you really want to eat, because your family can’t groan too loudly on this one particular date, and then find something from MetroFamily’s Mother’s Day Fun Guide or just relax.

Maybe it’s different at your house. I can only speak for mine and what I have to say is let everyone know of your plans. If you’re thinking “Really? I have to plan Mother’s Day too? I plan every single holiday as it is,” I hear you. Honor your Mom and your Mother-in-law and do what you have to do but seriously, schedule time for you. Because you know you’re going to take care of them but this day is for you too.

My oldest son is 10 and we visited the Gaylord-Pickens Museum recently. Candace Liger, a local poet and wellness coach, happened to be visiting for a poetry reading at about 11 a.m. Her message was all about self care. She asked the small group assembled to hear her poetry a simple question I didn’t expect: Who here has finished a bottle of water already this morning?

I looked around and noticed that far more men than women in the group raised their hands. I didn’t raise mine.

As mothers,we are so busy taking care of others that we don’t do all that we should for ourselves. We have to hydrate ourselves  to be able to keep going, that very basic and needed fact of life-giving water.

Candace continued talking about self care, the importance of rest and exercise and saying “I don’t have to continue talking to this person if I don’t want to because hashtag self care.” I’ve thought about that since February, when I was not ready for the message of self care. I want to look back and know I was my happiest self for my children. Nail polish makes me happy. And pears.

So have a happy Mother’s Day. Prioritize yourself. Get a mani/pedi. Schedule a nap and lock the door. Buy something pretty just because. And then make it a habit to do one thing just for yourself from here until next Mother’s Day. That’s the real gift, to be able to look back at a year of self care. It’s not selfish; it’s self-preservation.

Every day is your day and along with you, day in and day out, are children who will learn how to treat mamas, what they can expect and what to do for their own wives. Take care of yourself and they’re more likely to do that too, which is really every mother’s wish for her children. Model for your kids the kind of life you want them to have, because that’s what’s already happening. They see so much. Nourishment and hydration and sleep have to be there. Joy too.

Cheers, to your health and happiness!

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