Today is Mothers’ Day!

This is a special time to celebrate mothers! Women who give and give and give. They sacrifice, compromise and oftentimes, leave their desires behind and keep less in order to give more! They spend their lives organizing little lives, teaching how best to live and then later bearing the pain of letting go! For my husband and I, our mothers are wonderful, magnificent beings which means for each of us, our mother-in-law is wonderful. My amazing, amazing mother is miles upon miles away and there is an ocean between us and therefore, I should have millions of pictures and, yet, sadly, I do not have one recent picture of her and I only. Certainly, not within the last 10 years. We have seen each other several times and there have been many opportunities to snap away. That must change! About my mother: There were many times when I saw her buy new clothes only to turn around and pull them out of her closet, with the tags still on them, to give to someone in need. She has shared our home with people/families in need of a place to stay. She has given boxes and boxes of food to those in need – and to those not in need merely because we had plenty and she wanted to share. She often hosted brunch, lunch and dinner at our home. Those acts of generosity I have witnessed my entire life. She is full of love and if she was willing to share her love with so many others, imagine how much more she loved me – and all my siblings when we were young (foolish, thought knew everything and did not want to always listen). I cannot leave my father out of those remarkable kindnesses. He, too, was a part of it. Although, I do not have a picture of my mom and I, and in spite of ubiquitous sentiments, thank God for mothers-in-law. Mine is probably one of the best there is and she is a joy to be around. She is brilliant, funny, demonstrates fierce love and is generously kind. She did a splendid job raising my husband and I am so thankful to her for getting him ready for me! Below is a picture of me and my wonderful mother-in-law. How lovely is her hair?!

Being a mother is one of the most important jobs (the other most important job is being a father). Mothers are cheerleaders, supporters, encouraging motivators, instructors and we champion all things good. The job is challenging and requires thoughtfulness, expanding patience, ever-growing energy, skillful-thinking, purposeful living, immeasurable love, constant work of all sorts and there is no training course! The only requirement is that we do the absolute best we possible can. Fortunately, there is a manual and you have one, too …our mothers. Our own mothers are our source of reference, our template and our real-life manual. We have the choice to follow all of their teachings, some or none, at all. In light of this, we know what to do and what not to do based on how we were raised, and how their teachings and instructions impacted our lives when we were kids – and the residual effects of them now that we are adults!

My darling aunt has been like a mother to me my entire life. So, as you’ve discovered I am some kind of blessed! Do you have multiple “mothers?” Mothers cannot be substituted or replaced but there are women who are like mothers, who love without wanting anything but the best for you, they just love because. Who is that to you?

As my sweet and beautiful daughter grows, I hope she finds me to be the best mom ever and when she becomes a mother, I hope she uses  a lot of the manual! The first picture is a card and necklace she made for me with her little hands! The flowers were pulled from a beautiful bunch given to me from her and my sweet-love husband at a late breakfast. Yes, I was able to sleep late today!

Happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers!