Happy Mother’s Day!

To everyone that has ever filled the role of Mother, no matter your gender or DNA, Happy Mother’s Day!

For me, being Mom has never been just bout having given birth, though that is part of my motherhood. It is about going to countless baseball games, screaming and cheering until my voice gives out, even if I cannot stand baseball.

It is about having a child get involved in something like robotics, that I know not a single thing about, and asking questions so I can have an intelligent conversation with my kid about his interests. Then, because I’m truly hopeless on understanding it, designing the team shirts as my way of supporting him.

It is taking my daughter to endless dance classes and attending every last parent day possible to be there to watch her grow from this shy, quiet, reserved girl to this amazingly confident, beautiful young woman. Just being a part of that and watching that transition.

It is about not strangling them whey they annoy each other enough to get one of them yelling, or when they repeatedly do something annoying even though you’ve asked a million times that they stop but they keep going just because they wan’t to annoy the crap out of you.

It is wiping tears when their bodies or their hearts hurt. Giving hugs when needed and staying hands off when they don’t, no matter how much you want to. It is about letting them fall every once in a while so they learn to pick themselves back up. Sometimes, it is even letting them go, no matter that it leaves your heart in shreds to do so because you know it is the only choice for them.

Genetics and blood do not make you a mother. Time and support and love and understanding are, even when those things are needed in ways you aren’t a fan of or never envisioned, but are the way those kids need them. It is about watching your child grow and helping them to become the people THEY want to be, and not the person you expect them to be. It is a beautiful, ugly, painful and endlessly joyful experience. I am grateful to get to be a mom.