On May 16, 2004, my life changed forever when my daughter was born!  I had looked forward to that moment for a very long time, and I will never forget the way I felt when they placed my little girl in my arms for the first time.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a mom.  After having my first child, I quickly realized that it’s very hard to be “just a mom.”  It’s that question that hangs in the air, spoken or unspoken, at playgroups, school functions, and even in the check out line at the grocery store:  What KIND of mom are you?  Are you a single mom, working mom, stay at home mom, crunchy mom, attachment parenting mom, breastfeeding mom?  The list goes on and on.  Once you’ve established what KIND of mom you are, you usually receive a barrage of unsolicited advice about why you should be doing things differently.

I’ve held a number of jobs through the years and motherhood is definitely the most challenging (and rewarding!)  There is no other job where you are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  I truly believe that for the most part, moms want to do want is best for their children.  They spend hours crying and praying for their well-being and trying to make the RIGHT choices for their kids.  Sometimes, along the way, life places roadblocks or bumps in the road and sometimes we make the best choices for our children that we can given our circumstances.   We all have made mistakes as mothers and none of us wants to be judged for decisions we make, which means we also don’t have the right to judge others for their decisions.

I’ve been blessed to have wonderful examples of mothers in my life and I’m truly grateful for that!  I’ve learned from the examples of my mother, grandmothers, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-laws that I’ve inherited along the way, and many great friends.  I love them all dearly not only because of the example that they have been to me but also because they have loved me and not judged me along the way.

Happy Mother’s Day to each of you from me!  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  Imagine what a different place the world would be (and what an amazing example you would be to your own children) if instead of judging working moms, stay at home moms, breastfeeding moms and all “kinds” of moms if we just loved and supported each other in this crazy task called motherhood?    We’re all in this together!