The last couple of years have been rough around all the holidays, as we haven't been able to get together in large groups due to the pandemic. Thankfully things are a little different/better this year and more people will be able to celebrate things like the upcoming Mother's Day in person.

And of course, for a variety of reasons, some won't be able to see mom this year either, as is always true (work schedules, finances, etc.). But even if you can't be together personally, you can always celebrate your mother and the contributions she has made, and perhaps is still making, to your life.

At least I hope you have something to celebrate. I was certainly lucky with my mother – she was a wonderful human being and a role model for me – and while she has been gone for almost 20 years now, I still miss her and think of her every day. I wish everyone could have had the kind of mother-daughter relationship my mom and I had.

With a nod and a hug to people who don't necessarily have good or close relationships with their mothers or their children, and people like me, who have neither a living mother or children, I still like to celebrate Mother's Day. For me it's all about the memories I have; perhaps for you lucky ones, it's all about the memories you are making.

So this Mother's Day (and every day), I hope you laugh together a lot for laughing together are some of the best memories you can ever have.

This Mother's Day (and everyday), I hope you can talk about anything, and I hope you can listen to each other as well.

This Mother's Day (and everyday), I hope you can be there for each other as you each face both the challenges and successes of life.

This Mother's Day (and everyday), I hope you can accept each other as the individuals you are, and celebrate your differences as well as your similarities.

I have many hopes for the mothers and their sons and daughters out there – and for the fathers who fill in for missing mothers – and much love and admiration. And because I can't always put into words what I am thinking about mothers in general and a mother's love in particular, I do love finding good thoughts and quotes about mothers and mothering. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Mother is a verb. It's just something you do. Not just who you are." – Dorothy Canfield Fisher

"A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend." – Unknown

"Life began with waking up and loving my mother's face." – George Eliot

"No matter your age, you will always need your mom." – Unknown

"There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." – Jill Churchill

"Over the years, I learned so much from mom. She taught me about the importance of home and history and family and tradition. She also taught me that aging need not mean narrowing the scope of your activities and interests or a diminution of the great pleasures to be had in the everyday." – Martha Stewart

"A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest." – Irish Proverb

"Don't poets know it better than others? God can't always be everywhere: and, so, invented mothers." – Sir Edwin Arnold

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." – Tenneva Jordan

"Mothers are like glue. Even when you can't see them, they're still holding the family together." – Susan Gale

"A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories." – Honore de Balzac

"I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars." – E. M. Forster

However you celebrate your mother, or the day, I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day.

© 2022 Marilda Mel White. Mel White; Mel, local writer and photographer, has been looking on the bright side for various publications since 1996. She welcomes your comments at morningland@msn.com.