Mother's Day Doesn't Have to Be Another Ordinary Day

I know I'm supposed to enjoy the second Sunday in May as the day that honors mothers, but for me, Mother's Day is just another ordinary day. My husband usually has to work, leaving me to make the obligatory calls to my mom and mother-in-law, and then I fall into my typical Sunday routine.

It goes something like this: Drag Dawson to church. Go home and eat lunch. Read books to Dawson. Take an afternoon nap. Wake up. Clean the house. Suffer through repeated episodes of SpongeBob. Wait for Doug to get home. Eat dinner. Play Thomas the Train with Dawson. Put Dawson to bed. Collapse on the couch to watch bad T.V. before falling asleep.

The only thing different about Mother's Day is that I receive a handmade card from Dawson (and lots of hugs and kisses), a tiny bakery cake from Doug and maybe some flowers.

I don't expect fancy gifts for my special day. I love those crayon-scribbled cards created on the back of junk mail (we're all about recycling here), and what girl doesn't love a butter cream-frosted confection?

This year I'd like to do something different. Something meaningful. Not just for me, but for others as well.

Thanks to organizations like Global Giving, I can make a financial contribution to many wonderful charitable organizations that are in need of monetary donations.

Johnson's Baby Cause is having a celebrity-sponsored auction of gently used baby items over at e-bay. I bid on Elisabeth Hasselbeck's donation, just because I admire the conservative co-host of The View. I don't actually need a stroller/car seat combo system, so I haven't raised my bid. Instead, I donated directly to help children in Bolivia Survive to Five.

When my husband asked what kind of flowers he should buy me for Mother's Day, I instructed him donate that money to help provide baby supplies for 60 families in The Bronx.

After all, flowers die, but the good feeling of helping others lasts forever. Any day we can give to charity is definitely no ordinary day.

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