How to Stun Mom on Mother's Day

Attention young adults. May 12 is Mother's Day, the busiest Sunday of the year for telephone volume, according to the Pew Research Center. (Father's Day is the busiest single day for collect calls for AT&T.)

This Mother's Day, do something that will leave Mom dazed, and I don't mean leaving the twins with her, last minute, for the weekend or coming clean about the drugs you tried in high school. We'd really rather not know.

Call her while sitting down, quietly -- your arms at ease from their duty of washing dishes, writing your term paper, starting the lawnmower or whatever loud or distracting activities you do when you call us mothers. Talk with her for five minutes, eleven minutes. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that for those minutes you are all hers. (A quick side-note to adult children who read emails while Skyping with us moms: We can see you do this, you know.)

I'm not a grouchy Luddite. I read papers online. I created a podcast and a website. Once, I tweeted. At work, I check my personal email account and at home, I check my work email. It is an easy distraction. Bye-bye boundaries, concentration and stillness of mind. Hello, hastily-sent missives.

But there are times that demand one's full concentration -- if only for a few minutes -- and Mother's Day is one of them.

On that day, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you will spend about 16 minutes in correspondence -- using the phone, email and snail mail. But remember the original bureau of labor: Mom.

Even if you talk or text or email her several times a week, this Sunday, pour yourself a cup of steaming coffee, sit down somewhere quiet, and punch in Mom's phone number. When she answers, say "Happy Mother's Day." Because Mom just wants to hear your voice. Really, she does.