Happy Mothers Day! To All Real Moms Who Come In Many Guises

We tend to idealize Mothers Day - to think of it in the form of a Hallmark Card or that which the movies and TV bring to us. A Mother with healthy and beautiful children being served breakfast in bed while a devoted and loving husband and father looks on from the background. If that is your Mothers Day, be thankful and truly enjoy your blessings and what life you have earned and created.

Thirty plus years in Public Education taught me that life is not as a pretty card or the media show it to be. And so, I want to offer appreciation to Moms whose Mothers Day will not be so idyllic:

Happy Mothers Day to the woman who got up at dawn to go to work to put food on the table and clothes on the backs of their kids. Hallmark does not make a card that depicts how great a Mother you are.

Happy Mothers Day to the woman who by divorce or abandonment is both a Mom and a Dad to her children. You are now the rule rather than the exception in America and you are doing a great job.

Happy Mothers Day to the woman who never gave birth to but is Mom in every best meaning of the word to the children she cares for. Whether as a Step-Mom , An Adoptive Mom, or a Foster Mom, you fill this role, may God bless you.

Happy Mothers Day to all women who offer to children the kindness, compassion, empathy, understanding, guidance,and love that enriches and shapes their lives.

Finally, Happy Mothers Day to men who are man enough to be Moms to children.

I write this to Honor Mothers Day and as thanks to my Mom who has passed on and will always be remembered this and every day.