Hi Mom!

That's the way my son Drew answered the phone whenever I called him or he called me. 'Hi Mom!' Or, when he was being sassy, it was, 'Hello darling!'  (A clear imitation of me.) In fact, all three of them do that. Karen might answer, 'Hello Mumsie.' and Michael will  pipe up with the 'Hello Darling,' theme. And now his son, my grandson, does it too. This seems to have evolved into a family affair.

Obviously there was something wrong with my parenting. Perhaps I should have lowered the boom on the 'respect' issue. Perhaps I should have demanded that the person who gave birth to each of them (in agony, of course) be addressed in fitting fashion with something like, 'Good Morning, Mother dear!' Or maybe not. At least not until after my first cup of coffee.

What's done is done, I've decided and I'm not going to wring my hands about any of it, because, it seems to me that in spite of all the mistakes I made, in spite of all the things I could've should've done better, they all still seem to love me. And I wouldn't change that for all the stars above.

So, let me ask you, were you a perfect mother? Of course you were - at times. So was I. Did we crash and burn sometimes making executive proclamations that were way off the mark, and definitely not in accordance with any of the 'how to' manuals we kept on our coffee tables? Did we say irrational things that were guaranteed to stunt even the most compliant child? Of course we did. Are we human beings? Of course we are.

And what's more, in spite of all the handicaps that come with the human condition, we mostly did a bang up job! Did you ever feel sad all morning having packed your 10 year old off to school after a fight over what she should be wearing? Probably. And did you show up at school at lunchtime with a treat to make up for one of those faulty proclamations? Probably. And did she screw up her face and say, 'What's that?' Because she's already forgotten the morning row.

Kids are like that. They are so much better than we are; they forgive and forget easily, and that's a very good thing. After all - childbirth is often a surprise, and always comes without a comprehensive book of instruction.

How could it? Just when you think you've got this parenting thing down pat, another baby come along, and guess what? He or she is absolutely nothing like the other one, two or three you've raised reasonably successfully. This one is a whole new ball game. It doesn't matter that it has the same set of parents with their sometimes good, sometimes quirky ideas, it comes with a mind and personality all it's own, and we rack our brains trying to figure out how that could have happened, staring at it as if it was a new species or something. It's not a new species, it just has a thriving free will. How great is that? That something this small could end up ruling the roost unless you make a few of those unguided proclamations.

And then there comes an evening when you're watching this same tyke perform in his first school Christmas Pageant. He's the fluffy sheep standing beside the manger scratching his head, and your heart fills with pride. He's not so bad - your face breaks into a grin. In fact he's doing so well he may be Hollywood bound. . .

Then comes graduation - it doesn't matter which one - you can hardly contain yourself as you watch your little girl, all grown up, walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Her eyes sparkle, full of excitement, as she reaches up to hold her cap steady and wave to you. Her dad's mopping his eyes, and you share the look that says, 'We did it right.'

Time goes so fast. It won't be long before it's your turn to mop your eyes as you watch your grown up son lead his new bride onto the dance floor for the first waltz of their new life together. You think about the small things that tumbled through the years; his first scraped knee, his first day at school when you held hands up until the very last minute before you had to turn him over to a brand new experience, his first touchdown on the football field  - his first broken heart.

And as the memories play out across your mind, you feel a hand on your arm and his voice at your side saying, "Hello darling! Shall we dance?"

You smile at his father. That same smile that says, 'We did okay, didn't we.'  

And that tyke when he grew up? Well, Drew won his company's highest accolade. Their 5 Star Employee of the Year. We did okay.

Yes, you did. We all did okay. We took on the hardest job of all, and by George, we did it!

To all the moms I know, 'Well Done!' Happy Mother's Day - You're the best!