So, Mothers' Day is Sunday, May 11 in the US, Canada, and a host of other countries (Saturday, May 10 in Mexico; Sunday, May 4 in Spain; Sunday, March 2 in the UK).

Mothers are a complicated thing, and not everyone's relationship with them is as harmonious or nurturing as one might hope. So, today I offer several alternate topics, in the hopes that everyone can find a way to relate:

• Songs about your mother or a mother figure in your life
• Songs that describe your relationship with your mother (or a mother figure in your life)
• Songs a parent figure in your life used to sing, or still sings
• Songs that put you to sleep when you were a small child

1. The Lusty Month of May from Camelot: For the record, I hate this song, but my mother goes around singing it at the top of her lungs every May, so it's as much a part of spring to me as seeing the first robin is.

2. (I Wonder Why) You're Just in Love from Call Me Madam is something we used to always sing on road trips.

3. Side by Side by Patsy Cline is another road trip song. My mom and I also competed in a parent/child bowling league when I was little, and "Side by Side" was the name of our team.

4. The Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg. No idea why this song reminds me of my mother, but it did. "He tried to be a soldier once, but his music wouldn't wait..." That's about the point where I always start crying.

5. I'm in Love with a Big, Blue Frog by Peter, Paul, and Mary. My father, is, in fact, 6'3" with glasses, originally from Pennsylvania, and loves to swim, and this song came out not long before they started dating. Her friends used to sing it to tease her, and then someone gave her a stuffed blue frog that she used to sleep with or throw across the room, depending on how she was feeling about the relationship at the time. Since then there's always been at least one stuffed blue frog around the house (the most recent being a 30th anniversary gift from my sister several years ago).

6. She is My Slender, Small Love This is the first of the songs from the category "songs my mother sang to me."

7. Alice Blue Gown from Irene: I didn't realize how sad this song was until many years later.

8. Stay Awake from Mary Poppins

9. My Cup Runneth Over from I Do! I Do! (made famous by Ed Ames, but if I know my mother, she knew it from the musical). I wish I could remember more songs my mother used to sing me to sleep with, because I know she once made me a list and there were dozens, but this is the third and final one I recall.

10. On the Front Porch from Summer Magic And this is another song we all (me, my mother, and my sister) used to sing ... just 'cuz.

And the upcoming schedule:

May 16: brillig
May 23: vesticular
May 30: Kassandra
June 6: brillig
June 13: Sister Q
June 20: brillig
June 27: reahti
July 4: brillig
July 11: Sister Q
July 18: brillig
July 25: Caliban120
August 1: brillig
August 8: Sister Q
August 15: brillig
August 22:
August 29:
September 5: brillig
September 12: Sister Q
September 19: brillig
September 26:
October 3: brillig
October 10:
October 17: brillig
October 24: Sister Q
October 31:

(I took the liberty of taking October 24, since I'll be in England on my regular 2nd-Friday that month.)