Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.

-Erich Fromm

There has never been a day in my life that I have doubted my mom’s love for me or felt that I had to earn it. It was handed to me freely without any stipulation. She has always been there for me when I needed something; a listening ear, shoulder to cry on, advice (whether or not I chose to listen).

You know, it really is true what they say. Now that I am a mom I do appreciate my own that much more. Has our relationship always been peachy? No. But it’s ok! There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship. She did a fabulous job raising me (if I do say so myself). I think I turned out to be a pretty good egg and I credit a lot of that to having a very open and honest relationship with my mom. “I’ll never lie to you” is something she said to me all the time; sometimes after telling me something she knew I would not want to hear. There were times, especially as a teenager, I had wished she had just lied to me. Looking back I realize I would not be able to trust her the way I do now if she had.

My mom is strong. By the age of 33 years old she became a single mom of two young children (8 and 5) when she and my father divorced. As if working and raising two children wasn’t enough of a challenge, she also went back to school to get her bachelor’s degree. Now that I have two children of my own I can truly appreciate all of her hard work and dedication. I realize now how difficult that must been and what a great example she was setting for me. Work hard and don’t give up.

I always knew my mom was proud of me and in return I always strived to be a daughter that wouldn’t disappoint her. She always did her best to steer me in the right direction and encourage me to be the very best me I could be. There were times I couldn’t see that she had my best interests at heart. I realize now that everything she did was out of love.

“I’m blessed and I couldn’t be more grateful. Do you want to know why? Because I’m a mother, but that’s only half of it. I’m blessed because, when I need to, I can still just be a daughter. I get the feeling that there is nothing more precious than to have both of these roles, simultaneously.”

― Adrianna Stepiano

Mom, I love you. Happy Mother’s Day!