Happy Mother's Day

Since I don’t have any money to spend on cards and gifts, I thought I could do a tribute to all of the mothers in my life.

This year I got a whole new outlook on what it means to be a mother. While I didn’t have a child of my own, my two closest friends in the world did have babies this year; one in September and one in December. Watching their bellies get bigger (and listening to ongoing stories about maternity clothes), witnessing morning sickness, looking at baby clothes, having conversations about baby names and feeling a baby’s kick on mommy’s belly – all amazing things that I was lucky enough to be a part of. Witnessing all of the things that women do for their babies - before and after birth - has helped me to appreciate my own mother even more. In my opinion, all kids should call their mothers on their birthdays to say thank you.

Ledawit: the night that we found out that you were pregnant, I looked at you and thought about just how fitting the word “mother” was for you. I’ll never forget spending all of that time looking at baby clothes in the Superstore, eating spinach dip, and listening to you order “Virgin Caesars” at restaurants. When I think about getting that phone call at 4:30am to find out your little angel was finally here, I still get tears in my eyes. I’m so proud of what an amazing mommy you are and can’t wait until Addis is older so I can tell him stories...

Kim: what an amazing mother you turned out to be (not that I’m surprised)! While I was a bit sad that we weren’t having babies at the same time – so they could go to school together – I was and still am so incredibly happy for you and Steve. The two of you are such a great team! Gordie is such a gorgeous little boy and with a smart, loving, wonderful mommy you just know he’s going to grow up right. You have shown incredible patience and resilience in the face of any difficulties that go along with raising a newborn, and clearly find much joy in your son. I’m so proud of you.

And to my own mother:

Thanks for supporting me in everything that I have done – both good and not-so-good.

You let me make my own mistakes in life, and as a result, I’ve learned many important lessons.

I admire your life’s work so much and hope that someday I can look back at my life and think that I did half as good a job at being a teacher.

Thanks for still loving me even when I wasn’t being loveable, laughing at my jokes when nobody else did, and being so proud of every little accomplishment in my life.

You were such a powerful support to me this year, and I can’t say thank you enough for the hours spent on the phone discussing lesson plans and other things that I learned about becoming a teacher. It would have been a lot harder to finish this year without being able to call you and ramble on for an hour (or more…). Hope your ears aren’t ringing!

I hope that I can continue to make you proud of me – as proud as I am of you.

Love you lots!

You called your child a blessing. Never forget that you are blessings too!!