To All Moms, Everywhere

Today is Mothers' Day, a day when we honor our moms for everything they have done for us. It is impossible to fully and completely express our love and gratitude to our mothers, but Mothers' Day gives us an opportunity once a year to do something wonderful for them.

The experience of becoming a mother ourselves is probably the most thrilling of our lives. Who can ever forget the joy we feel when we first see our children and get to hold them! The love felt is instantaneous and life-long...

Raising our children is probably both the most challenging and rewarding job that we will ever have. I have heard it said that one can best truly appreciate what your own mother has done for you only after having children of your own. In my own experience I can attest to the truthfulness of that statement!

My mom was incredibly supportive, especially when my babies were young and I was learning the ins and outs of childhood illnesses. If one of my little ones was really ill, my mom was right there going to the pediatrician with me as an extra pair of ears. If I was ill myself, my mom would come down in a minute to help me take care of the children and get the meals prepared.

My mother-in-law, Bette, was also a great mother, as was her mother-in-law, Gram Lamon. These two women provided a great example in mothering for me in my younger years. We all had so much fun being a family together...

My Aunt Dorothy, my dad's only sister, has played a very important role in my life, to the point where I have referred to her many times as my 2nd mother. Aunt D. is turning 96 years old on Tuesday, when her life will be honored on this blog. I am so incredibly blessed to have had these awesome women in my life!

This week-end our daughter, Olivia, invited us down to Walnut Creek in the Bay Area for Mothers' Day. We had a fabulous time! We got to see her new office that she set up for the new company that hired her. We went to dinner at Mahalo, a great Hawaiian restaurant on Main Street in Pleasanton. This is a darling, old and new fashioned street of shops and restaurants with lots of people out enjoying themselves. We even ran in to our cousins who live there.

We had brunch with Claudia, my daughter's best friend, and her husband, Rocky, and later went to the new Star Trek movie. It is great! The only thing that could have made it better is if our son, Grady, could have been with us, but he was up in Portland. We'll be planning a trip up there sometime this summer.

To all the mothers of the world, enjoy every minute with your children. Before you know it, they'll be heading off to college, and your role will change. But you will always be needed and loved as a mother.