Happy Mother's Day

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with 

sick toddlers
in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners

and cherry
Kool-Aid saying, "It's OK honey, Mommy's here."
 
Who walk around the house all night with their babies 

when they keep
crying and won't stop. 

This is for all the mothers who show up at work 

with spit-up in their hair
and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.
 
For all the mothers who run car pools and make cookies 

and sew Halloween
costumes. 
 
This is for all the mothers who froze their buns 

off on metal bleachers at
football or soccer games Friday night instead of 

watching from cars, so
that when their kids asked, "Did you see me?" they could say, 

"Of course,
I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.
 
For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice 

a night for a year.
And then read it again. "Just one more time."
 
This is for all the mothers who taught their children 

to tie their
shoelaces before they started school.

And for all the mothers who opted
for Velcro instead.
 
This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook 

and their
daughters to sink a jump shot. 

 This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically 

when a little voice
calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own 

offspring are at
home.
 
 
What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? 
The ability to cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, 

all at the same time?
 
Or is it heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch 

your son or
daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone 

for the very
first time?
 
The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, 

from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to
put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?
 
This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes 

and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go.
 
For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. 
 
Single mothers and married mothers. 
 
Mothers with money, mothers without. 
 

This is for you all –