I have the best Mother! No, really, I do. I call her Momma, and she is the first, last and greatest teacher, example and standard to strive for that I could ever have. When I was a little girl, she sewed countless doll clothes, sang songs, read stories and bandaged boo-boos for four little girls with creativity and love that encouraged us to learn and explore and question.

All I know about being filled with childlike curiosity, I learned from my Momma. When I fought with or got mad at my sisters, Momma would negotiate, referee and problem solve with love and compassion, never crushing our individuality or limiting our originality. When we made friends, lost friends, brought home new and old friends, Momma would make them feel special and welcome.

She taught us to be accepting and tolerant and to believe that different is not wrong, just different. She taught us to be a collector of beloveds. Everything I know about making friends and treasuring relationships, I learned from my Momma. When I had my first crush, my first date, my first love, my first broken heart and when I got stood up or dumped, she taught me that I am enough, okay as I am, and could only love someone fully if I loved and accepted myself.

I watched her love my Daddy with complete abandon, disagree with him without demeaning, argue without accusing and correct without censure. I watched her live out what ‘forever and ever no matter what’ really meant. What I know about true romance love I learned from my Momma. A full-time wife of a busy young preacher, mom of four, part time employee in public relations; she kept herself, her family, her house, her life in balance and in order. Her priorities were those things that last. Things like relationships and experiences mattered more than dusty furniture or unmade beds that sometimes happened. The process of learning took higher precedence than the perfect outcome. She was good at finding the best in a sea of good and the important in a pool of the pressing.

Everything that I know about balance and tranquility I learned from my Momma. When I made what seemed monstrous mistakes and enormous errors, she separated me from the mess. She loved and affirmed me while correcting and fixing the problems. She did not equate me with failure or give me a sense of doom no matter the issue. Most that I learned about unconditional love and affirmation, I learned from my Momma. When life dealt her health a blow and she went through intense cancer treatment more than once, she stayed positive, full of faith and focused on the progress not the struggle.

All I learned about fighting through the hard stuff and staying strong and upbeat I learned from my Momma. After loving my Daddy for more years than I have been alive, I watched her support and help him through death. As her heart broke and her life changed forever, I saw her seek good, find the beauty, trust God and chose life.

Much of what I have learned about life lived abundantly I learned from my Momma. She taught me to be, to live, to challenge and conform, to test and trust, to love and lean. How to be a girl, a teen, a grown up; how to be a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife; how to work and how to play, how to spend and how to save, how to risk and reserve… all this I learned from my Momma!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothers out there whose overwhelming, unmanageable, never ending job of being Mother never ends. And yet, you teach your children just by being who you are… Mother.