‘ve long appreciated the mothers in my life. My own mom, my mother-in-law, my sisters, my friends. Mothers are amazing people who do superhero kinds of things every day and their only audience is, generally, pretty thankless. One day out of the year truly isn’t adequate thanks, but I’m glad that at least one day a year, I’m prompted to think a little bit deeper into the myriad of ways my mother took care of me. All the way from infancy to now, when she’s still stopping by my house to deliver a loaf of homemade strawberry jam & bread…just because she thinks I’ll like it.

This mother’s day also marks a new depth of thankfulness because I am now about to join the ranks of motherhood myself. (Yes, truly!) And during this first trimester when I was sicker than I ever thought possible, it was my own mother who said something that stuck out to me the most. I was having a particularly bad day and felt that I’d never ever feel good again and my mom told me, “Just think how tiny that little baby is right now. And think, you haven’t met him (or her), you haven’t felt him; but you would already do anything for your child.” She was right.

I’m gaining my all-access pass to motherhood and at the same time, I’m gaining an entirely new level of respect for the rest of the mothers of the world, particularly my own.

Mom, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for encouraging my imagination, artistry, musicality, and making me learn about basic household cleaning. Thank you for helping us make our house a home. Thank you for cleaning our bathrooms the other week when the sight of a toilet made me gag. Thank you for knowing secrets to make practically any recipe better. Thank you for buying us our first baby gift. Thank you for giving me so much advice already about what the next year may entail. I’m so grateful to have such a great role model in my life. I hope to be as great of a mother to my children as you are to me.