If this is Mom’s very first Mother’s Day, one of the most impressive and longest lasting gift ideas is a tree. Plant a tree for mother and child. The tree will grow as the baby grows. Mothers will always look at this gift as a lasting memento to the beginning of a new life.
Over time the tree will become as important to the child as it is to the mother. It will also become a reminder to mothers that children grow up and learn to stand on their own.
Perhaps the tree my parents planted on my mother’s first Mother’s Day was as important to me as it was too her as I became an adult. When the tree was small my mother tended the tree and cared for it. As an adult, I can remember my mother sitting in the shade beneath the very same tree. One day I took as seat beside her in the shade and noticed a tear in her eye.
My mother explained the significance of the tree to me. She told me how she had tended to the tree when I was young. On the day we sipped lemonade beneath the strong branches, my mother realized that like the tree I was grown and could stand alone.
Years later, sitting beneath the sprawling branches with my aging mother I realized that the time had come for me to shade and protect my mother, just as the branches of the tree protected her from too much sunlight and offered her a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the latter years.
Maybe planting a tree is a sentimental gift for Mother’s Day. However, over time the tree will come to symbolize mother and child and the growth cycle.
For mom’s first Mother’s Day there is no gift that will mean more.
