Here we go again, yet another Mother’s Day where I only get constant reminders that I’m not a mother. I’m a stepmother, an aunt, a daughter, a friend but none of those officially “count” on Mother’s Day, do they?  I spend the day without any children and trying to avoid the Mother’s Day festivities going on everywhere. In retaliation, I started a new tradition last year. I send Mother’s Day cards to my friends who aren’t mothers, either. Why? Because somewhere inside of each us lives a mother dying to get out. And we do let her out more than we realize - when we comfort a friend, take a niece or nephew out somewhere their parents won’t, dote on a student or a friend’s child and so many other examples.   These acts deserve to be acknowledged so why not on Mother’s Day?

Let me also add that those of us with infertility issues aren’t the only ones who suffer on Mother’s Day. Mothers who have lost children and children who have lost mothers also hurt. I never thought about that until I read on a blog somewhere something along these lines, “On Mother’s Day, I have no mother to buy a card for or to send flowers to.” So, I will try to reach out to a couple of those people, too, and let them know they are not forgotten. In closing, here’s a quote that reminds us that no act of kindness is ever wasted, “Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”  ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.