If you’ve followed me for long, you know senior year is a big deal in our family. We celebrate hard, we show up, and we don’t let anything get in the way of the accomplishments that are baked into the year. So, similar to the past 4 Mother’s Day weekends, I’m in Burns, OR. Burns is a small town about 5 hours east of Portland or 2 hours west of Idaho. It’s dusty here, and buggy, and it’s definitely not the spa (where most moms would like to be on Mother’s Day, if we’re honest), but it’s where my senior is, so here I am along with my husband. The only thing missing is my daughter, who’s having more fun than all of us on a boat somewhere in Northern California. Sigh…

To all the moms out there – I hope you feel celebrated. I hope you feel appreciated, hugged, adored, and admired for everything you do and everything you are for your family. And in case no one tells you on Mother’s Day, or not as often as you deserve, you’re amazing. You love big, you provide quiet, behind-the-scenes work. You take care of projects, payments, and plans so that everyone else’s life runs smoothly. You cry in the shower or the closet or the car for grief that no one else can relate to. You love your people. Protect your people. And while those same people get under your skin, they’re yours and you fiercely shield them from pain. 

I know that Mother’s Day is complicated for many of you. Some of you did not have the mom you needed. Some of your moms have passed on. Some of you have lost your babies. Others of you desperately want to be a mom and cannot. Whether you’re a mom, a step-mom, a hope-to-be a mom, a chose-not-to-be-a-mom, a mom in grief, or a woman who shows up as a mom for others in special ways, I hope you find some time today for self-preservation and quiet.  

To all of my readers who mother and who mother others, thank you. It’s a tireless, scary, unforgiving job. I’m so grateful to have so many women in my life who mother me, help me mother, and love the people I’m a mother to. I cannot imagine the journey of motherhood without other amazing women in my life. 

I celebrate you!