Parenthood, in my opinion, is the greatest gift of love. It is a huge responsibility filled with many bills, worries, sleepless nights, anger, hurt and at times, heartache. On the flip side, parenthood is also filled with sweetness, laughter, cuddles, joyousness and a love like no other. The love of our mother toward us, her child, is what gives us our foothold on our identity as we grow and learn about our roots, our personal past and present.  We also learn to love ourselves through our mother’s eyes, in her words and in her deeds.  We learn how to love others by her modeling.  I thank my mother for her bravery and dedication to parenthood.

I have had a marvelous love of life and owe a debt of gratitude to my amazing mother for her modeling and mentoring me in life lessons.  She taught me we must take the bitter with the sweet. One of her famous sayings to me when I was younger and in the midst of a crisis that rings true today is “Better days are coming!”   Such wise words are these.

A birth is a Gift of Life as well as a Gift of Love. I have grown to learn that a birthday doesn’t just belong to the person born on that day. A birthday is a celebration for the family that is connected to a person; the mother, the father, the brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, etc.  A new person to love, and as we age, a celebration that the person is still healthy and still there to love. Whoop! Whoop! Bring’em on!

Thank you, Mom for your gifts of love to me and to our family. We have much to be grateful for in you! So, let’s have the celebration continue…Happy Birthday! Happy Everyday to you!