Long Hollow

When you think about it, life is so very fragile, so touch and go, and there are so many things that can go wrong – that do go wrong sometimes – that it's a miracle any of us are even here. 

When you think about the pain of childbirth, the exhaustion of taking care of an infant, a toddler, a teenager, it's a miracle any of us are born, much less survive into adulthood. 

So all of us are lucky just to be alive. But let's face it … some of us are luckier than others, and I think I'm one of them, because I'm my mother's daughter.

I was born to a mother who loved her children with God's love – selfless and unconditional. The four of us had the security of that soft cushion of love at all times, no matter what we did.

Now, it didn't mean we got everything we wanted, or we could do anything we wanted. Love … real motherly love … means placing boundaries, setting limits, doling out consequences. She let us know when we crossed those lines. I felt the sting of spankings and felt the heart-wrenching pain of guilt, and I knew its source was Love.

Like Mary Poppins' spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine go down, my mother taught us by example that Laughter makes life easier. It sweetens the inevitable sour. We can't foresee or control what life has in store for us, but we sure as hell can laugh about it!

On Mother's Day and every day, I thank God for my beautiful, loving mother, and for her laughter …

… and my wonderful mother-in-law …

… and my beloved grandmothers.

I learned from them how to be a mother.

To all mothers, in all shapes and forms, hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. To those who can't be with their own mothers this weekend, or with their sons or daughters, remember their love is always with them, inside and out.

All mothers are rich when they love their children. There are no poor mothers, no ugly ones, no old ones. Their love is always the most beautiful of joys. – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, 20th century