With Mother's Day coming Sunday, there's a free and procrastinator-friendly gift we can give to our moms and maternal figures: TIME.

• Why it matters: The gift of time can look different for different moms, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.

A mother of young children might be looking for free time — a day of relaxation away from the constant responsibilities of parenting. A mother of adult children might want quality time — a no-phones brunch or a long phone call, the N.Y. Times notes.

• Anticipate the needs of the mothers in your life: Offer to babysit or make a reservation for a family meal.
• Keep the gift going year-round: Offer future child care help or schedule a weekly catch-up call.

🖼️ The big picture: As Finish Line has shown, some of the most effective ways to brighten someone's day are quite basic: deep listening, unprompted phone calls, handwritten thank-you notes.

🧮 By the numbers: Americans appear to be sticking with the classics this Mother's Day, according to a National Retail Federation survey.

• 74% are buying flowers, 74% are getting cards, and 59% have planned a brunch or dinner.

💡 Emerging trend: Many of those surveyed are celebrating more people on Mother's Day than they used to.

• Teachers, neighbors, aunts and family friends who act as mother figures provide many of us with love, care and support. Many of us are choosing to honor those relationships.

Go deeper: Get inspired with life lessons from Finish Line readers' moms.

• Oh, and check out what the three of us learned from our mothers.

The yard du jour belongs to Laura Merriam and Peter Armstrong of St. Paul, Minn.

"Every fall, my husband toils in our front yard to ensure a good crop of tulips in the spring. For about two weeks every May, they burst forth in a riot of color," Laura writes.

• "We love to sit on our front step and bask in the oohs and ahs from our grateful neighbors. It's one of the many gifts of our beautiful but short Minnesota spring."