~ MOMS ~


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This is for all the Moms who didn't win Mother of the Year last year.


This is for all the Moms who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And for all the mothers who don't.


This is for all the Moms of Kosovo who fled in the night and may never find their children again.


This is for all the Moms who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And for all the Moms who adopted those babies and gave them homes.


This is for all the Moms of the victims of the Colorado shooting, the Moms of the survivors, and the Moms of the murderers. It's for all the Moms who watched their TVs in horror, hugging their children, who had just come home from school safely.


This is for all the Moms who have ever stayed up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up vomit laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid, saying, "It's okay, honey, Mommy's here."


This is for all the Moms who shivered and froze on metal bleachers at Friday night soccer games so that when their kids asked, "Did you see my goal?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.


This is for all the Moms who lock themselves in the bathroom when the baby won't stop crying.


This is for all the Moms who sat down with their children and carefully explained how babies are made. And for all the Moms who wanted to but just couldn't.


This is for the Moms who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.


This is for all the Moms who show up at work with spit-up in their hair, milk stains on their blouses, and diapers in their purses.


This is for all the Moms who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children's graves.


This is for Moms whose children have gone astray and who can't find the words to reach them.


This is for all the Moms who sent their sons to school with stomachaches, assuring them they'd be just fine once they got there, only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please come. Right away.


This is for new Moms stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And for seasoned Moms learning to let go.


For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers.


Mothers with money, mothers without.


For all these Moms, we ask, what makes a good mother anyway?


Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?


Is it the ability to nurse a baby, 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?


Is it 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?


Is it the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of another shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying? Yes...Oh Yes


This is for moms whose children are grown and maybe even married and you still worry about them until you know they are safe.


So this card is for all you beautiful ladies young and older.. Hang in there and just know that the world would be a terrible place without you.


You make the world a more civil, caring and safe place for all of our children -- and ourselves.


And for that you are always the mother of the year.





~ author unknown ~