Happy Mother's Day!

To my mom, who learned to drive a stick shift when she was newly divorced with a little kid because manual transmission cars were cheaper and we were broke;

To my mom, who went from weeping when all my winter clothes were stolen from the laundromat when I was little to being able to take me on a celebratory shopping spree after a big promotion by the time I was in college;

To my mom, whose life is far now from the projects where she grew up, which I know she doesn't forget;

To my stepmom, who I've been able to talk to in a way I couldn't talk to my bio-parents sometimes;

To my stepmom, one of the most thoughtful people I've ever met;

To my aunts, who raised me alongside my mom and dad, and raised my cousins too, in a big family jumble - an extra hug to those of them with no kids of their own who have been like mothers to us;

To my cousins and friends, especially the new moms out there, who are building their own families with care and joy and trepidation.  May we care for one another and our kids the way my mom's generation cared for us.  May we build new families with one another.

This is an open thread. Happy Mother's Day!  Leave your thoughts and well wishes in comments, and don't forget to check out these Mother's Day posts at Change.org:

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/mothers_day_reflection_theory_vs_reality

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/when_mamma_aint_happy

http://animalrights.change.org/blog/view/animals_are_mothers_and_have_mothers_too

http://autism.change.org/blog/view/for_all_you_bad_mothers_out_there