Happy Mothers Day

On this day we choose to honor those very special women in our lives, Mothers. Whether we honor our own Mothers or the Mother of our children this is her special day. It's the day, to make up for all of the other days, when we forgot to say "Wow, you're pretty amazing".

My Mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 83 after a brief illness. To this day I carry a little guilt for a promise made that went unkept but that is a story for another time. Like all Mothers she was the backbone of the family. She was the one that got us educated, kept up fed, kept us clean, taught us right from wrong, hugged us when we needed it and punished us when we needed it. And through it all she managed to keep her sanity which with 3 sons and one daughter was a pretty neat trick.

I remember back in '93 or '94 I was struggling with what to get my Mom for Mothers Day. Any adult child knows just how difficult that task can be at times, especially when the parent keeps saying " There is nothing that I need so save your money". So on this particular Mothers Day I decided to write my Mom a letter, recognizing everything in my life that I knew she had done and thanking her for those things, plus apologizing for the things I may have missed.

I sat down and started to make a list of those things I wanted to mention, and to my amazement before long I was on my third page. I realized then just how much my Mom, like my Dad, had passed on to me. She taught me values, she taught me that it was OK to cry when you lost someone dear, she taught me about compassion, she taught me to tie my shoe, she taught me to love above all else, she taught me the virtues of loyalty, and the list could go on and on.

After some editing and several attempts at proof reading for errors (those that know me are laughing hysterically right now because they know I murder the English language without spell check) I typed it up single space and managed to get it all on one page. I signed it your loving son, Barry and tucked it in a card.

At the time my Mom was living down in Florida and I was leaving the next morning to go spend Mothers Day with her. I arrived at her condo about 3pm on Saturday and after relaxing for a while we went out to dinner. The next morning as we were having coffee out on her balcony looking out over the ocean I gave her that card, kissed her and told her Happy Mothers Day. She laughed then opened it and spent several minutes silently reading it. I saw tears well up in her eyes as she stood up and hugged me. She said " Thank you honey, that meant more to me than anything in the world". She later framed that letter and kept it on the wall next to her dresser until the day she died.

The point is Mothers are an invaluable part of our lives and we often take them for granted. On this Mothers Day do more than send flowers, let them know you realize just how hard their job is day in and day out, and that nobody could ever replace them.

So to all of the women in my life that are Mothers, "God bless you all and thank you".

Happy Mothers Day!