I walked downstairs to find my 9-year-old grandson Wyatt had taken over the kitchen and was “making me breakfast for Mother’s Day.” As I glanced around and saw flour, sugar and a huge mixing bowl, with Wyatt earnestly stirring, I panicked.

“I told him not to,” said his mom A.J., my daughter. “He promised me he will clean it up.”

My heart started racing with anxiety. While I normally wouldn’t object to Wyatt making me breakfast (although he never had before) I was having ten people over for a Mother’s Day Brunch at 11 a.m., just hours away. I usually don’t even make dinner the night before a party, so as to keep the kitchen clean and here it looked like a cooking bomb had exploded in my kitchen.

“I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, but since you’re already here…” said Wyatt, reading the recipe off his Mom’s phone. He had batter on his shoulder and was concentrating on the task at hand.

“I guess that’s it. The batter’s ready,” Wyatt said as he started to pour it into a stone-cold cast iron skillet.

I screamed.

“You can’t put batter in a cold pan Wyatt. And honestly, this is really not a good time to do this,” I said.

“I guess I’ll just put it away then,” he said, shrugging and looking crestfallen as he headed to the refrigerator.

“No,” I said. “That’s ok. It’s already made. Let’s just do it.”

I explained to him that the pan needed to be heated thoroughly before putting the batter in. And then I showed him how to melt the butter, add the batter and wait for bubbles to emerge on one side, before flipping them over to the other side. They were called “Golden Brown Pancakes” and they lived up to their name.

He made them, put them on a plate and we ate them with maple syrup. They were delicious! I then helped him clean up the mess. Crisis averted. I went upstairs to watch “my show”- CBS This Morning and came out at 10:30 to set up for Mother’s Day Brunch.

I thought I had enough time- 30 minutes- to get everything ready.

The table was set, the serving pieces and flatware were out. I just had to: make the bacon, slice banana bread, set up the ice tea station, chill Prosecco, set out orange juice and water and arrange the fruit salad on a platter. Now that I thought about it, it was a lot!

Luckily, I’d sliced the fruit the night before, but somehow, multi-tasking, was feeling overwhelmed and rushed; I was actually kind of grumpy when my Mom arrived 10 minutes early. Even when I try to be super-organized, I sometimes run out of time. This was not how I wanted my Mother’s Day to go.

A.J. arranged the fruit for me and set up the bagels, so I went upstairs to put some make up on. I realized I needed to relax, calm down and focus on the people I love and spending time with them, instead of trying to make everything perfect. So I calmed down, came downstairs and had a mimosa (minus the orange juice). Mother’s Day Brunch was on!

The Millionaire’s Bacon came out delicious (even though one piece got burnt) and everyone loved it. I also did some plain bacon. We had fresh bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, Banana Bread, a Spinach Quiche from Cecile’s, Broccoli Salad, Fruit Salad and Misha’s cupcakes. I also had some sunflower butter chocolate cups that I set on a little plate with sunflower seeds.

The pretty multi-colored macarons I’d gotten for Mother’s Day got taken to a Rugby party the night before, so they were missing, but- oh well. And I couldn’t get Pandora to play my French cooking music, which always seems to be a problem, but eventually Kelley got it to work.

Although we hadn’t planned it, we all brought gifts for each other. I’d gotten little serums for all the moms, Elise brought facial masks, Kelley brought beauty products, Emma brought candles and A.J. gave out moss magnets she had made. Sweetest of all, Emma brought glass vases that Celine had finger painted that she filled with flowers. We were all very impressed that Emma, mother of a baby who also works as a nurse 9 to 5, had found time to make these gifts. It was her first Mother’s Day! Celine was the star of the show, as usual.

It was a lovely brunch and then everyone went home. My kitchen was a disaster, but my heart was full.

That night, I went to a concert on Miami Beach with A.J., Wyatt and Phoenix called Mind Travel, which was my Mother’s Day gift from A.J. It’s a pretty cool concept, where you get a headset, sit in a designated area of the beach and listen to a piano player give a concert. So you’re listening to the concert together, but also experiencing it separately. Each concert has a different theme and this one- for Mother’s Day- was grace.

It was a beautiful venue for the concert, that was relaxing and meditative. We listened to music as the sun set, the full moon rose and the waves crashed against the beach. It did make me think that oftentimes we need to give other people grace and sometimes, we need to give ourselves grace as well. Especially as mothers who mean well, but in the end are only human.

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