Terrible Mother’s Day Gifts And The Moms That Love Them

It was May 8th, 1980-something when I was approached my Father about getting my Mom a Mother's Day gift. As an 80's kid who's attention was wrapped around Atari games, He-Man and Legos, I had absolutely no clue what my Mother liked or was into. I figured who better to ask then my old man right? He had no idea either, but he decided that I was old enough to choose a gift for my mother on his dime. Oh boy!

So, I broke open the Service Merchandise catalog and began to skim through it searching for the gift that I knew would blow her away. The gift that will solidify my love and attention for her! I agonized over each page, "A Blender? Nah.... Some perfume? No, did that last year... Let's go for the gusto...JEWELRY!". I looked over the selection being ever so careful to watch for cost, didn't want to put the family in debt over this, but I was extremely indecisive. As I got closer to giving up, I stumbled upon the "gemstones" page and saw "the one". This was it! I ran to my Dad and showed him my target, he shrugs and says, "Let's go get it".

So away we went to the now defunct "Service Merchandise", which for those who weren't around, think "Sears". When we arrived I knew exactly what I wanted and we went straight to the jewelry section. After selecting my gift, my Dad stepped in and asked me if I'm sure I wanted to confirm my choice. I was confused because I didn't understand why the sudden pause. That will be explained shortly. My Dad pulled out his credit card and paid for my $75 shiny new ring that's going to impress my Mom and make me the "Son of The Year" (mind you, I'm an only child at this point).

Mother's Day comes and I can hardly contain my excitement. I boldly burst into my parents bedroom early that morning presenting my first major gift purchase with extreme pride. My mother lovingly wrapped her arms around me and proclaimed "I LOVE IT BABY!" Mission accomplished! My mother proudly wore her ring to church that Sunday and even on outings with my dad.

Like "The Tooth Fairy" and "Santa Claus" adults do what they can to protect the self-esteem and feelings of their kids. And this fact would become reality later in my adulthood as I was going through some things with my mom and we came across my "amazing" gift she "loved".

I hated that ring, and I can't believe your father let you buy that for me. 

The truth was revealed. Couple of things wrong with my gift I would later find out. 1. I thought the emerald in the ring represented my mother's birthstone, it didn't. 2. Like you see in the photo above, it was basically "costume" jewelry. 3. The reason for my father's pause at the point of purchase was his way of "intervening" (as his laughter echoes down the hallway at our recollection of events). Whether it was to protect my feelings, or because she actually loved the ring wasn't the point to me, my mom wore this outrageous piece of jewelry at the risk of social embarrassment because its one of the many reasons mothers are amazing. They will always love you, no matter what the world may think. Thanks Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!