Mother's Day at the Wesley household had always been fairly active. When Sarah had been growing up it had been a day in which she and her father, Thomas, showered Julia with as much attention. However, after Animalia got started, Mother's Day soon became an even more active day. For Mary Alice had been uplifted and the rest of the Wesleys became Siberian Husky Animalians as a result. What then followed with Thomas and Julia being double dosed was Julia coming into season and then becoming pregnant, with Belle and Bash being born on Mother's Day. This then doubled the celebrations with Belle and Bash getting birthday presents and Julia getting loving attention from her pups. This year was a bit different, as Sarah and Malice were at college, though Belle and Bash were starting to count down the days until their siblings came home.
"I wish you two were here," Belle almost whimpered through the Zoom call with Sarah and Malice.
The older Wesley children were presently in Sarah's dorm room and had set things up so that the two sisters could then call home together, sing happy birthday to their younger siblings, and wish Julia a Happy Mother's Day. They smiled back at seeing their younger siblings and seeing that they liked the presents that they'd worked with their parents to arrange for. Some of it was a bit tricky as Belle and Bash had some fairly different interests, but there were enough things that they liked that were shared that Sarah and Malice had been able to find out with their parent's help. Both Belle and Bash got a set of large foam balls and leather mitts to let them play catch in the backyard when they weren't at pre-school, and Belle and Bash loved both of them, particularly as they came from their sisters. Malice was technically an "adopted" sister, but neither Belle nor Bash cared. Malice had been a feature of the Wesley family their entire lives.
"Yeah, but summer is getting closer," Malice promised, "the Seniors at WSA will be having their finals coming up this coming week and then the rest of the grades will have finals and get out the week after that. And many of us at college will have roughly the same time line. You just have to be patient."
"And you two can do it," Sarah added, "if you two can excavate a Ferrari then you can wait a couple of weeks."
Julia and Thomas smiled to each other as Belle and Bash wagged their tails at the memory. The two didn't actually dig up the Ferrari, but they did start the digging that lead to the excavation and neither Belle nor Bash could explain what got them digging there. They didn't say anything about smelling anything there, though both of them were much younger then and it was possible that they'd forgotten that adventure. But as proud parents, Julia and Thomas were happy to see their pups be happy and that Belle and Bash loved Sarah and Malice as much as they did.
"We can," Bash said softly.
"Don't wanna," Belle said a bit more impatiently, which earned a few chuckles.
"I know, but there's nothing that can be done about that," Malice chuckled.
"And how about you, mom?" Sarah asked, "did you have a happy mother's day?"
"Yes, yes, I did," Julia smiled, "your father gave me a wonderful card and breakfast... and I got to see all my pups... even if two of them had be through Zoom."
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Other Animalian families took Mother's Day as an opportunity for some outside fun and family get togethers. There were some issues with the fact that the pandemic was still going on, but with the Dinotopians now completely vaccinated and the regular Animalian Covid Vaccine now in testing, with promising results, there was the hope for greater freedom to return to normal. This was something that Animalia looked for and hoped for. This allowed for Martha and Robbie to take their young Red Fox Animalian Kits out for a picnic in the park where they met with Clara and Richard and their Mountain Lion Animalian Cubs. The meeting was something that would be odd to most in a natural setting, as Foxes and Mountain Lions generally didn't interact, unless it was the Mountain Lion trying to eat the Fox.
But for Robbie and Clara, that wasn't an issue, and as the first two Animalians on record, they had a friendship that had been there since the beginning and stayed there as Clara married Richard and then had Robert, Michelle, Hilary, and William. Robbie then married Martha and they'd more recently had their kits. With the pandemic going down in Nevada and Lyre/Animalia largely avoiding the worst of it, they were more free to enjoy something more normal. This came complete with Robert and William noting that Robbie and Martha's kits were toddling after parents and looking as cute as could be.
"They're walking!" Robert commented to Robbie and his mother while pointing to the young Fox Animalians coming up behind Robbie and Martha.
"They've been walking for awhile now... though between all the stuff related to Covid last year and then winter... they were largely indoors or in our back yard," Robbie commented to the cub that had been named after him, "but things are better today and the weather is reasonable."
"And thus a good day for an outing?" Richard raised up a basket from which the scent of steaks and chicken cooked earlier drifted to the noses of the others present.
"Yes," Martha smiled as the two respective families to one of the picnic benches that was there in the main park area in Lyre, "particularly with other outside issues going down and the weather warming up a bit... it's good to be able to get out of the house."
"The bigger thing might just be having the time to do things as families and not have all our waking moments dealing with problems and interference of some kind," Clara commented.
"Something both of you deserve on Mothers' Day," Richard commented as they reached the picnic table and began producing paper plates on which to eat the food that was packed earlier. He was delighted to see both Clara and Martha smile to that.
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Meanwhile, other Animalian families outside of Animalia were celebrating Mother's Day in a different way. In Wisconsin it was more a celebration on upcoming mothers than those who were already mothers. Both Blueberry and Meryl sat at the breakfast table while Olly and Ulysses worked on preparing breakfast for the pregnant Mule and Cow Animalians. The scent of berries and pancake batter drifted to them, along with butter and syrup went along with them. Before both of them were sets of cards wrapped in pink paper. One read "to Mom, from Nate" and the other read "to Meryl from Nate." Blueberry also had one from Ulysses and Meryl one from Olly, which both of them had already opened. Ulysses card to Blueberry was romantic and sweet, and thanking her for always being there. Olly's card was a bit more on the humorous side with the punchline being that the foal Meryl was carrying could only hope to be half the Mule Meryl was.
"I'd never actually expected to get Mother's Day cards before," Meryl commented to Blueberry with one hand resting on her swollen middle.
Neither of them were due for another month, but it was pretty clear that both were pregnant and would have children of their own. Blueberry by design and giving Ulysses the promise of keeping the farm in the family and Meryl more by accident related to questions of whether or not a Mule could actually produce offspring, but regardless of those circumstances both were actually looking forward to being mothers.
"Especially not from my nephew," Meryl then spoke as she lifted up the card to her from Nate and began to open it as Ulysses and Olly came toward the table with plates of pancakes.
"He hasn't done this before?" Olly wondered, "Haven't you both been here...?"
The second question went more to Ulysses, though Meryl didn't let her younger brother answer.
"I was here when Nate was growing up... but I wasn't really the mothering type back then," Meryl answered, "I'd never met anyone "man" enough for me."
"And I'm afraid that when my wife left me with Nate... I'm afraid I never really did much to celebrate Mother's Day," Ulysses spoke, "in this, Blueberry was an opening to recover some happiness."
"Which is good," Blueberry smiled to Ulysses as he sat down beside her and then looked to Meryl, "So what does the card say?"
"I'd think Olly was helping him pick out the card," Meryl grumbled, "says something about making sure I don't my foals give me any lip."
Olly did his best to look innocent, and it was figured that there would be some words exchanged between Meryl and Nate in a week or so when he graduated from the University of Wisconsin. Blueberry and Ulysses both chuckled at this, though. From there it was Blueberry's turn and she opened her card from Nate. It wasn't as romantic as Ulysses' card was, but it was nice. The front showed a woman kneeling to hug a young boy with the words "Happy Mother's Day" written across the to. The card's inside was rather generic, and Blueberry accepted a lot of that, as most of the cards that focused on Animalian mothers were often in areas with larger Animalian populations. The big thing was the hand written note that Nate had written, which Blueberry read to the others.
"I know things will be new for you," Blueberry read, "as your time as the herd's matriarch was different from anything that you have now. But I know you were always there and even then seemed to understand and care, and you've made dad happy. That's what makes you a wonderful person as an Animalian, and one I am happy to call you "mom." I'm sure that you and dad's calf will agree when he or she is born...Because the love has always been there."
Blueberry could only smile and felt a small kick come from inside her womb, making her rub that area with her free hand.