Happy Mother's Day!

My mother died in the fall of 1996, so this is my 18th Mother's Day without her. Some women were born to be a mom ... and she was one of them. She loved us kids. She not only showed us we were loved by her actions, she told us ... every single day.

She let me make mistakes, learning lessons the hard way ... but she was always there to pick me up when I fell. She offered advice when asked, never forcing her opinions on others. When each of us kids got married, she embraced our spouses as her own. When it came to being a mother-in-law, she was the anti-Marie-Barone. Her mother-in-law was abrasive and intrusive, and she vowed to never interfere that way when her children married ... and she didn't.

She loved doing ceramics, crocheting, and was an accomplished seamstress, but ... by far ... her favorite pastime was reading, and she passed that passion down to me. I consider that to be the greatest gift she ever gave me.

My kids were 2, 4, and 6 when she died. My oldest daughter has a few memories of her, but the other two were too young. She loved my babies! As hard as it was for me to live knowing I would never see her again, it was even more painful to know that my kids would never know this wonderful, sweet, amazing woman. My kids think I'm the best mother in the history of the world ... but that's only because they never got to know my mom.

Sometimes I dream about her. When that happens, I wake up happy that I got to hear her voice and spend time with her again. Those dreams, while rare, are treasured gifts.

Her name is Esther. She hated that name. I can't say I blame her ... I wouldn't want to be named Esther either, but she's named after an incredible woman in the Bible. Queen Esther was kind, beautiful, smart, courageous, strong, selfless, and loving ... and that pretty much sums up my mother, too.