All mom really wants is a little time

Although many refer to Mother's Day as a conspiracy by Hallmark to sell more cards, I figure any chance you've got to say thank you to your mom is a good thing.

Each year my older brother, Chris, and I scheme to come up with the perfect gift for our stepmom, Amy, on Mother's Day. Unless he has a brilliant idea, he tells me to buy something and send him a bill. So, as usual, I did just that and we gave our stepmom a gift she truly loved.

In normal tradition, we congregated at my grandparents' house on Sunday with the rest of our family over ribs and strawberry shortcake. We exchanged cards and hugs and gratitude for the unconditional love we've been shown over the years (and I know that's not easy).

After lunch, my brothers and I took my stepmom fishing off the pier at my grandparents' house. For hours we sat in lawn chairs waiting patiently to see if our corks would go under. Even though our corks rarely, or in my case never, did go under, we had the best time catching up and laughing with our mom. Once an afternoon shower hit, we decided to return to our house and do some more fishing there. Thirty fish later, we called it a day.

I know my stepmom sincerely loved her gift, but when she said, "This was the best Mother's Day I've ever had," I knew it had very little to do with the gift. What a mom really wants on Mother's Day is for you simply to sit and chit-chat, share a few laughs and show her she's loved.