On This Mother’s Day

Many of my friends are, like me, now old enough that they have lost their mother, a fact that is even more top of mind today of all days.

My mom was an unusual woman in so many ways. She was raised very Catholic but married a Jew at which point they both abandoned religion entirely due to the commotion their union created on both sides of the family.

She was quite liberated and very much a feminist. Growing up our family room was adorned with a framed piece of art with the words, “A woman’s place is in the House, and in the Senate.” She raised me and my siblings to see women as equals and thus to give them the respect they so well deserve. She supported me in every endeavor and taught me to be independent as she completed college (which had been temporarily interrupted by marriage) and then went on to get a Master’s degree.

She was both caring and the iron fist of our family. I’ve never known a stronger woman. This is my second Mother’s Day without her. Of course I knew growing up that I would almost certainly outlive her (and what parent wants to outlive their children anyway) but facts and emotions don’t always find common ground. To imagine a future event is almost never the same as experiencing it.

On this Mother’s Day, like all past Mother’s Days, I am thinking about her. I am appreciating all that she did for me. At the same time my attention is shared with my wife who has managed the trial by fire that is motherhood with exceptional skill and love. I could not have asked for a better mother for my children. How she has managed to keep all of the balls of motherhood in the air without dropping a single one is beyond me.

I’m quite aware of how lucky I have been. I don’t let that go unnoticed. To all of those incredible women who have made their kids feel as lucky as I do today, Happy Mother’s Day.