Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day.

A day to celebrate those women that gave us life. Oh wait… why is that worth celebrating? Why is giving birth the accomplishment?

It’s not.

Providing, teaching, caring, adoring, disciplining, encouraging, fighting, cheering, and loving their children… that’s worth celebrating.

Mother’s Day is tough for me. My entire life I’ve been envious of other girls and their relationships with their moms. I always wanted her to be my best friend, my confidant, my safe place, but she was always my main source of hurt. Discouraging, criticizing, comparing, demanding, that’s the bulk of my memories.

But there were moments. Like when I got my heart broken in high school and she picked up all the tennis balls while I hit out my frustrations at 2:00 a.m. Or like when I had a miscarriage, but I still had responsibilities, so she picked up my kids and brought us fried chicken so I didn’t have to cook. Those are the moments worth remembering, worth celebrating.

I’d like to encourage each and every one of you, especially those that long to be a Mother to become a foster parent. I promise you, my sons would not feel anymore like “my own” had I given birth to them. I’m blessed to be a mom with several titles – foster, biological, adoptive, but they all just call me mom or momma or mommy.

Don’t let your fears, anxieties, or insecurities keep you from missing this blessing. This could be the biggest blessing in your life.

There’s no other title that holds as much responsibility and expectation as the title mother. So today, let’s celebrate all those amazing women that have stepped up, showed up, and likely failed but keep stepping up and keep showing up.

Happy Mother’s Day.