If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve met my mother.  And probably that impacted your life in some positive and major way.

She is the best person imaginable to be my mother, we are in some ways perfectly suited to each other in temperment and good company, and in the ways we are not, she is perfectly suited to be my sister’s companion, as my sister is also mine. We are an even triangle of companionability, love, understanding and the little ripple of conflict that always arises when people are too like each other.  The three of us, I think are so bound together that I couldn’t explain it to you, nor would I want to let you inside the place that’s ours.

But this is about my mother.  You don’t really need to know about her being a good mother to me, because that only matters, really, to her children.

You should know that she is an incredible sister, an amazing aunt, a brilliant manager, a trusted friend and a devoted partner.  If you have a daughter or a son, probably my mother is someone you would want to help them if they were in need in any way.  She has been an unbelievable pillar of support to our extended family, sometimes openly, sometimes secretly, sometimes thanked, somtimes ignored.  She is thoughtful, generous to a fault, and always willing to help if you ask.

She deserves more than just a phone call or some flowers from her daughters, who would both rather show their love in other way anyhow, she deserves the acknowledgement and respect of every person whose life she has touched or helped in some way.

She is so smart and so together and so organized and I think everyone who knows her recognizes that.  But maybe sometimes we forget to think about how kind she is and how unflagging she is in her support of what any one of us is trying to do to improve our lives.

She is, in my mind, the perfect embodiment of everything that was good and beautiful in her own parents.  She has done an amazing job of raising children, not just me and my sister, but others around us too, even my cousins in secondhand sort of way.

If everone who knows her would take just 30 seconds and think of how she’s positively impacted their lives, that would make me so happy.

I also want to send love to all of my aunts, cousins and friends who are mothers.  Each of you is doing an amazing job in your own way and I am proud to know you and see your lives change and see the wonderful people your children are becoming.

And finally, I know it’s Mother’s Day, but sisters don’t get one and I’d like to point out that my little sister is perhaps the best and brightest of us all and even though I’m sure she’s only 3 and still clutching at my leg when she’s nervous, she’s actually become and amazing, beautiful, poised, intelligent woman and in some ways, I’m grateful to my mother most of all for giving me me my sister.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!  I hope you all have someone to thank or remember, someone who you love and admire as much as I love and admire my mom.