Happy Birthday, Mom

I am fortunate to have many amazing women in my life. But I doubt that I would be as appreciative of my happy circumstance if I wasn’t most fortunate to have my mother. She is the most extraordinary person I know. If you doubt my somewhat biased opinion, I can easily find innumerable people who know her less well than I do, but who will readily echo my sentiment.

She has long been a teacher by profession. Her recent retirement from teaching was a great loss to the coming classrooms of children and to her community, even though her community and her many friends continue to be enriched by her untiring works and constant, bright glow.

Before she excelled at teaching others’ children, she was the firm and gentle hand that raised me and my extraordinary siblings. She gave me the tools to endure and to thrive in our irregular world; the nature to breathe in rhythm and to sing in harmony with the world’s more sublime elements; and the strength to help shape it for the benefit of all.

She has always and naturally been above her own needs. She has given everything to me and to all her many children. Perhaps her most extraordinary gift was her seemingly natural ability to transition from parent to friend. I can only hope that each and every one of us can enjoy such perfect trust as has been my great fortune.

Lest it be said one time too few . . .

I love you, Mom.