Mother’s Day is Sunday. The lessons I’ve learned aren’t all from my own mother. They are from all the moms in my life! 

• I learned from my friends who struggled with infertility that mothering starts before babies are even on the way.
• I learned from other moms how to organize my toddlers’ days and prioritize what gets done.
• I learned there is great accomplishment in books read and pictures colored and words learned, even when it’s hard to say what got done that day.
• I learned that the middle school age doesn’t have to be dreaded – it’s actually pretty fun to see your children and their friends talk and think and share and dream.
• I learned from my friends with special-needs children that warrior moms are made, not born. That those children teach us lessons about love and gentleness that are life-changing.
• I learned that children’s struggles are very much our struggles too, but giving kids the tools to figure things out is better than doing it all for them.
• I learned from the moms who come through my work – struggling with violence, abuse or addiction – that motherhood can be the strongest motivation for making hard changes in your life.
• I learned from my friends who are foster parents or who adopted that mothering is not about being related by blood.
• I learned from my neighbor moms that open doors and freezers full of popsicles can make very fun summers, and always having hot chocolate on hand makes you the best house on snow days.
• I learned from mothers who have lost children to illness or accidents that grief is something you walk through and walk with, and it never leaves, but you can make it part of a life that goes on.
• I learned from my fellow school moms that prayer can make a difference – it can solve problems and soften hearts and change the direction of any situation.
• I learned from moms with older kids and younger kids that each stage has great rewards – children growing up and going to first dances and first dates and graduations is what is supposed to happen, and moms who have been through those stages remind me we shouldn’t waste too much time on the “bitter” parts and miss celebrating the “sweet.”
• And lessons from my own mom – too many to count. 🙂