Just wanted to wish all the Moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I wish I could write something poignant about the cycle of giving birth, becoming a mother, all its responsibilities, joys and burdens and such, but I think I'll just thank the mothers in my life instead.

Mom: I hope you enjoy the flowers I sent you. Now that I have two kids of my own, I can understand better what you went through when you were trying to raise me and N. And even now, you know me so well, I don't have to say much and you already know what I'm thinking (sometimes good, sometimes bad). I love you very much, for being there for me now when I need someone to turn to for advice, in my own life and how to be a better parent. Thanks.

Moz (mother-in-law): Thank you for being a giving person and loving your grandchildren so much. You babysit when Hubby and I work, or when we need some time away. It really is something I appreciate. Though we don't always see eye to eye on things, I'm glad that we get along and we enjoy each other's company.

Maternal Aunts M, S and G: You lecture, worry about me and are there for me at unexpected times in my life. When the lot of you get together, the humor (sometimes pervy) and warmth which radiates from you fills the corners of my heart.

Pau Pau (maternal grandmother): You are a strong and formidable woman. I wish I spoke better Chinese, so that every time you say something in toi-san, I wouldn't have to just nod and smile, then (feeling rather like a r-tard) look to Mom and ask, "Uh, what did Pau Pau say again?"

Mom has told me stories about you growing up as a woman in China back in the day. You married into a well-to-do family as the wife of the youngest son, bore 6 children and survived the Communist revolution.

When Mom was just an infant, someone accidentally dropped her while they were holding her, severely enough that it broke a vertebrate in her back. Nobody knew the extent of the injuries of course, only that something wasn't right with the baby anymore. Your mother-in-law, the female head of the household, suggested leaving the baby outside on her own for a few days. If the babe was meant to survive, she would, otherwise, it was for the best. She was only a girl, after all. But you staunchly refused, and kept her with you at all times. The babe grew into a girl who could not walk correctly until she was 2 or 3 years of age. That girl that became my mother, would not find out until her 40's (on a chance visit to a chiropractor) that she grew up with two fused vertebrate as a result of those events. Your decision to keep her and not abandon her...where would I be had you not chosen that path?

I love you all very much.