I don’t think everyone needs to have children, but I did.
One is a belly baby. The other came with the house. And I have learned so much from the both of them.
I don’t remember where this was taken. I do remember we’d spent the day riding the surf on this big raft, and I happened to be standing in front of the boys when they were being, well, boys. The one in back with his tongue hanging out (bless him) just finished law school and is taking the bar in July. The blond in the front teaches paramedic medicine in New York City. I mean, they had to grow up some, but those are their current stations and both of them, in their own way, helped me grow up in ways I never thought possible. Last night, when I finally sat down to much-needed grading, I sat down feeling really really happy to know these two, and to know, in the case of the brown-haired one, to know the woman he eventually married, and all their beautiful children. I’m not a huge fan of Mothers Day. It feels schmaltzy. I am not in a relationship with my own mother. I found myself texting or calling the women in my life who are mothers — along with my own Aunt Julie, who’s been like a mother to me. My aunt and her husband and their three children, my cousins, took me in when there was nowhere to go, and I am so very grateful for that, too.
And I spent part of yesterday with both of these guys, and came away feeling like I’m really getting more than my share, happy-wise.
I hope you can say the same.
Dating Jesus 
My Grandmother taught me being a mother is The Best Job in the World and the Worst Job in the World…all at the same time. And it never ends.
So I’m glad there’s a Mothers Day, even if it is a bit schmaltzy, to remind me of that at least once a year.