For those of us who still have our mothers with us on earth Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate her. Growing up there were always bouquets of dandelions and other “weeds”, awkwardly drawn pictures and misspelled words on homemade cards to celebrate the day. As time passes the gifts and cards got a little bit more sophisticated perhaps but the sentiment was still the same. Moms are to be celebrated.

My memories of my own mother are many and since I am blessed to still have her I am making a quick trek today to Ohio to spend a few hours with her over the weekend. For some reason it seemed very important to me to be able to physically be there with her this year and I suspect it is a part of my whole “Take the Time – Make the Time”philosophy. It is important to make those memories even if they are far different memories than I had thought I would be making with her.

I have written before about my mother’s dementia and how it is slowly but steadily taking my mother away from us in bits and pieces. It is horrible disease and some day I am hopeful that a cure can be found. While my own mother suffers mainly from memory loss and just basic inability to function at times others affected by the disease have different experiences. My mom did go through an angry and hateful phase but fortunately it was short lived. That has been the most difficult part for me so far.

I also know that many of my readers do not have mothers who are living to celebrate with. I am so sorry. I grieve with you and hope that your Mother’s Day is filled with happiness rather than sadness. There are also those who wish to be mothers and have not been able to experience that. This is an especially difficult day. I try to be sensitive to that and to hold those in my heart and offer my love. While I realize that I may be in the minority at times to have a living mother and have really great memories of her growing up I know that not all have those same experiences.

So this weekend, as I travel to spend some time with my own mother, I hope that each of the women reading this post can know that no matter what your place is currently in the whole motherhood cycle of life — you are loved. Beyond measure.

If you have a favorite memory of your mom I would love to read about it. Please leave me a comment and remember that each comment made on the blog this month means a 50 cent donation to our Comments for a Cause – Wounded Warrior Project.