HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

THIS IS AN UPDATED RE-POST FROM THE PAST COUPLE YEARS. I've tried to make new ones, but I don't think I can come close to the emotion and honesty put out in this post...Maybe next year. Maybe not.
-----------
I want to first wish A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all mothers - ON THIS SUNDAY AND EVERY DAY! This is also extended to any fathers who may be raising their children without mothers, as well.

I am proud to say I have been raised and formed by three brilliant mothers. Melissa, Jackie and Krissi:  Three of the five dominant figures in my life (along with my two daughters).
-----------------------
Jackie is a great mother:  A woman who gave up her youth and hopes to raise her two children. She is a woman of immense personal pride and perseverance, who rarely asked for help and even less often received it. My mother taught me to survive and to fight, but not to be bitter over life's hardships.

Adding to her greatness, since my sister and I 'left the nest' Jackie has grown to a personal level of success I doubt she could have ever predicted...Such success from the lot she was given is incredible, and has changed the way I live my life. For most of my youth, teens and twenties I lived my life based on 'what I didn't want to be,' but in my thirties my life paradigm changed. I no longer grow from a negative, but instead progress with the goal of growing up to be as successful as my mother.

THANK YOU MOM!!! I LOVE YOU.
-----------------------
Krissi, my sister, friend and confidant. Looking back, I tormented her terribly as a young girl, and wish I could go back and show her how much I've always loved her. I called her stupid names like "Pigalig" and "Bone," and admit to creating ways of teasing and torturing her, which only ended after she finally broke down and cried...Like I said, I wish I could go back and do it all over.

That said, she will never know how much she helped me as a child and continues as an adult...Through all the years of hardship as kids I always knew I could lean on my sister. I've never been a 'little guy,' yet Krissi has always been there for me to fall on. I can only imagine how heavy the burden as a child and teen it must have been to carry the weight of her big brother.

Brilliant, beautiful, successful, strong willed, and driven. I admit to being a little jealous, but not over her success. If anything my jealousy has been over my inability to keep up...I'm sure this surprises her, because I was always the "golden child" of the family; first born, good athlete, a boy, etc. And all of this was true when we were kids, but Krissi has found ways to keep up, catch, and pass her big brother in many ways. For this I am extremely proud, and happy to have her as a benchmark to work towards.

Finally, my sister is the mother of two daughters. She is proving to be a great mom, and a loyal wife...Both of which are proving to be her real strengths, and what I am most proud of her for.

THANK YOU KRISSI!!! I LOVE YOU.
-----------------------
Melissa, my wife, my life...Chronologically the last woman in my life, but definitely not last in my heart.

We met by chance, and on that first meeting I fell in love with her. I know it sounds impossible and corny, but from the first time I met Melissa I knew she would be the woman I'd grow old with...At first we had a long-distance, pen-pal type, relationship, and then took turns leaving home to be with each other, proving the strength of our relationship as well as our desire to be together.

I couldn't ask for a better spouse: A partner with the tenacity to ensure our marriage works, and the will to help me grow from a boy to a man...When my children were first born I swore it would be easier to be a parent than a spouse. Surprisingly, as time goes by I am finding this isn't the case. One, being a parent is much tougher than I ever figured. Two, my relationship with Melissa is becoming stronger and stronger with each succeeding day. We have both changed much in the last 20 years, but more than anything we are growing into each other and our marriage. It is something I'm extremely proud of, and hope will last till my dying day.

Finally, my daughters couldn't be more lucky to have a mother like Melissa, who in her own way reminds me of my mother in that she will not allow her children to fail, while at the same time helping them succeed. Just as she is in our marriage, she is as a mother - a strong determined force in the lives of my children, as well as a tender, nurturing, loving presence.

THANK YOU MELISSA!!! I LOVE YOU, AND LOOK FORWARD TO OUR LIFELONG VENTURE AS PARENTS AND SPOUSES - AND GRANDPARENTS.
-----------------------
Above I have mentioned the three most important mothers in my life, but there is another I have to recognize as well: Patty...This is my sixth Mother's Day without Pat, and she is missed terribly. Unfortunately, it took me too long to appreciate how good she was to me as a step-mother, but I truly hope she is looking down and knows how much she was loved and is missed.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO EVERY MOTHER!! For the sake of your children, I hope you have the same strength, determination, will and courage to be as great a mother as the women listed above...Failure is an easy route to take, and I venture to say without each of them I wouldn't be in a very pretty place. As parents, spouses, siblings and friends yourself, you can have the same powerful affect on those in your life as my 'four mothers' have had on mine.