Mother's Day

Scientifically speaking, moms are just remarkable. Somehow, her DNA was spontaneously and magically designed in this universe, just how it is. Just for you. And it will never, ever again be replicated. She is the only woman who exists the way that she does. And by a series of unexplainable experiences and circumstances throughout her life, she then created you. And no matter how extremely different you may be, how vary unique your existence is as well, in every practical way, you are half of her. And your sequence of DNA is purely magical to her. She watched her body design and create you. And now you are a physical being which stretches and grows her experience here on Earth. Your mother is the anchor which holds you to the ground. She is your point of reference in a spinning chaotic world.

And we must remember that mothers are human. That they have their own lives they are living. And that they have sacrificed a sufficient amount of years, a major chunk of their existence, to ensure that we do. We think of our mothers as superhuman, because they are so fast to protect and save us. Now that I am an adult who has parented,  I suddenly see--- my mother is human. And now the life she has created for me seems infinitely sweeter. 

If there is a single thing I have learned from my work in Uganda, teaching in public school, working in crisis intervention at a homeless shelter, fostering children removed from their homes, nannying young children in perfectly healthy situations----there is one thing I can say with absolute confidence, that I vow is unequivocally true and absolute---children crave their mothers. It is evolutionary and natural and magical. Somehow, as a living and surviving species here on Earth, we innately understand that we need our mothers in a way that food and water doesn't do it.

I am loving and grateful for the speck in this universe my mother and I subsist. In this giant, scary, confusing world, I always have a 10-digit number that leads me to the secure haven only mothers provide. That sequence of numbers, my mother's cell phone, feels as warm to me as a lullaby. I cannot wait until I have a child to love the way that she does. Hopefully my daughter is slightly less stubborn, selfish and spoiled then I was.

Love you mom. Everything I have accomplished this year would be impossible without you. I hope you understand that what was done in Uganda was done through you. 

Love always from your living monuments,

Tiff, Taylor, Michael, Gilbert, Bibianah, Kevin, Easter, Rehanna, Ollie, Chase, Ricky, Carson and the future grandchild your daughter is already secretly planning to adopt from Uganda in the next year or so. Seriously tho.

We couldn't possibly be here without you.