Happy Mother's Day to the SuperMoms

This Sunday, many moms in the U.S. will be celebrated with crepe paper flowers, homemade artwork, and breakfasts made with love and varying levels of quality control as tradition dictates. No matter how many kids you have or what your situation is, I wish you a Happy Mother's Day.

But I really want to give a shout out to the Supermoms who walk among us. Hats off to the....

Single Working Moms
...who are just as tired as everyone else, but never get to look forward to that break and relief of hearing another set of keys in the door. The buck starts and stops with you when a child is sick while you need to work at a job that may or may not be paying you what you are worth.

Moms of Kids With Special Needs...
...who do everything we do, but over and over and over. Sometimes while everyone stares because they judge your child is too old for such behavior when they should be in awe of your patience.

Moms Living in Poverty...
...whose lives are full of Either's and Or's. You made the tough choices this winter between heat for the house or food for the bellies. Or even when things were going a little better, making the slightly higher class choice...toothpaste or dishsoap?

Moms Who Have Lost a Child...
...who live with the shadows of possibilities that never will be. You have an empty seat at the table and love still in your heart.

Whatever your plans are this weekend, you should receive much more thanks from the world than you're going to get this Sunday. I hope that if our paths cross on Mother's Day, that I might notice you and give you some more of the respect and love that you deserve. But most of all, I wish I could tell you that you can be the most powerful among us. You have the stories - if you are ready to share them - that can change minds and change lives to make the world better for your kids or the kids that will come after them.

This seems like a strange Mother's Day message, but Mother's Day in the U.S. throughout the 19th Century was not about pancakes and flowers, but about more about peace movements from mother's who lost sons, temperance movements, and local efforts of women to help other mothers learn to properly care for children. It used to be about empowerment instead of recognition. Could it be a bit of both?

To the Supermoms: Life is asking more from you than of many, but don't let it defeat you. Be strong and speak out whenever you can. I wish I could tell you that you are powerful and have you believe it. Because it's absolutely true.