It's Mother's Day, the time of year when we honor and celebrate those among us who are mothers by blood – moms, grandmothers, and dads who do double duty – and those who are honorary (step-moms, aunties, god-mothers, etc.).

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 even though she has been gone for 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 nor 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.

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:

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

"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

"Mother is the heartbeat in the home; and without her, there seems to be no heartthrob." – Leroy Brownlow

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

"The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation." – James E. Faust

"My mother was my role model before I even knew what that word was." – Lisa Leslie

"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

"Motherhood is the exquisite inconvenience of being another person's everything." – Unknown

"Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all." – Oliver Wendell Holmes

"My Mother: She is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her." – Jodi Picoult

"When you are looking at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know." – Charley Benetto

And my own wishes for all you mothers and "mothers" and children out there:

I hope you laugh together a lot, for laughing together are some of the best memories you can ever have;

I hope you can talk about anything, and I hope you can listen to each other as well;

I hope you can be there for each other no matter what, facing both the challenges and successes of life together to divide the sorrows and double the joys; and

I hope you can accept each other as the individuals you are and celebrate your differences as well as your similarities.

Happy Mother's Day.

© 2023 Mel Makaw. 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.