Tomorrow is Mother’s Day which, for those of us who are now without our Moms on this earthly plane, is always a little melancholy – not terrible, but just adds to my missing her.

I know we all tend to think ours was the very best one, which is always okay. I don’t think it’s something we need to squabble over. Mine could make me crazy and froth at the mouth over politics and religion. We would almost draw swords over those issues, so, wisely, we tried to steer each other away from those hot-button points, especially as I got older and she became ill. Besides, it’s hard to have a good fight with someone who is struggling to breathe, which she was, and it made my heart hurt to see her like that. I like relishing my sweet memories of her – hugging close to me the memories that roll around in my brain like old friends come to call. I loved her beauty and her laugh and how making her laugh was always our treasure, like some swell secret her five kids knew how to do.

Was she perfect? No. But, she was the perfect Mom for me, the one from whom I learned determination and humor, compassion and how to go out with a concealed hand in canasta…how to do a hook slide into 2nd base…and how to get back up on horse that had just thrown me (after I chased it across a pasture to catch it.)

Was she the very best Mom in the world, ever? Maybe. It doesn’t matter if she got the title or the ribbon; she was the very best Mom for me. Her love kept us all afloat, I know that, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. So, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, Mother! I still miss you every day. JS