I realize almost constantly how very blessed I am to have had the mother I did.  But on Mother’s Day, the lesson is especially pointed.

My mom was the kind of person I always wanted to be, even during those rebellious times when I refused to admit it.  Mom never graduated from high school, but that’s not to say she wasn’t smart.  Just about everything I ever learned that was really worth knowing, I learned from my mother.  She taught me to walk, to talk, to read, to think, to love.  She instilled within me a deep sense of who I am — and whom I should aspire to be.

I never had children.  I’ve always said that any kids I might have would act just like me, and then I’d have to kill them.   I’m only half joking.  I often wonder how my mother and I both lived through certain parts of my life.

Mom wasn’t perfect.  Who among us is?  But every time someone tells me I look like, sound like, or act like my mother, I always say “thank you.”  I can’t think of anyone else who more deserves my emulation.

I love you, Mom, and I miss you every day.  Happy Mother’s Day.