Home is Wherever I'm with You

We few, we happy few, we band of sisters and brothers...

All this mother needs for a happy Mother's Day.  The fetes and gifts are lovely, but having this beautiful band of brothers and sisters to look upon is all I need.  We've been through a lot these past six months, but as long as I have them I have home.

My heart breaks for those who can't wait for today to pass, as the losses they have sustained make Mother's Day a time at the foot of the Cross rather than one of revelry.

I must not forget the mothers who cam before me.  My own mother, for whom I always made Mother's Day something of a trial.  Thank God, I grew out of that.  And then had children of my own, which really made understand how wonderful my mother was. She made it look so easy.

And there are the grandmothers I never knew.  My mom lost her mother when she was 16.  My father lost his mother at the unimaginable age of 7.  I finally paid a visit to my paternal grandmother's grave last November.  Touched by her epitaph, but not really surprised.  For whatever else I may accomplish in life, my greatest pride is in those six jolly jokers above.  (As something of a joker myself, I broke the solemnity hanging over us as we returned to the car and mentioned that my headstone would have room for only five children's names and the next person to incur my wrath would be omitted.  Just joking  I love them all - they are marvelous.  And they all also, forget to replenish toilet paper, misplace car keys, call me on my morning to sleep in.)

"Loren's Mother"

The angels have not

been blessed with such a

grace. They cannot share in

God's creative miracle to bring

new saints to Heaven. Only a

human mother can. Mothers

are closer to God the Creator

than any other creature; God

joins forces with mothers in

performing this act of

creation... What on God's

good earth is more glorious

than this: to be a mother?

—Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty