Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day here in North America, a day where we celebrate, cherish, and honour our mothers. Our mothers are the women who brought us life, who gave us knowledge, wisdom, and a safe haven. They helped us find ourselves and to become the people that we were meant to be. The people who have done these things have given us a great gift and deserve thanks for it.

This isn't to say that each of our own mothers gave us every one of these gifts. If we are very lucky, our biological mother was the one who also gave us life, knowledge, wisdom, and safety. But the biological mother need not be the one who gives these gifts; a friend, a relative, or someone else who happens to be in the right place at the right time can fill the role of "mother". If you are very lucky, you may be gifted with several people who you can call a mother.

So today, on Mother's Day, take a minute to think of and thank all of those people who have helped you grow, who have helped you find yourself, who have taught you about life - all those people who have acted as a mother to you - and thank them. You wouldn't be who you are without them.

Thank you, PatC and LisaP, for helping me find myself and being a kind of mother to me here. No one can replace my actual mother - Mom - or everything she's done for me. Thank you. I love you.