This morning I re-read last year’s Gratitude for Mother’s Day and I find I do not have much to add. I am deeply grateful to my mom, the Grand Owl, and nothing has changed there. I remain grateful for being the mom of two Owlets who make me laugh, cry, stress out, smile and have a most interesting life. And to Mr. Owl who lets me do all of the preceding sentence, usually all in one day, and supports it.

My gratitude today extends to the moms I see around me. The Mothers Who Will, to borrow the marketing campaign of my college (Women Who Will). If you stop and look and listen, you will know all of the moms who I mention below:

+The mother who will stand out in the frigid wind of May 7 (no joke) to volunteer at the admission table of the Twilight Meet at Regis and WHS. Two moms in this case–whose kids were running after 8 pm, and yet they were there four hours early.

+The mother who will fly cross-country starting at 3:45 am with two layovers, two delayed flights, an uber ride, and not even a change of clothes to attend a graduation where they may get two minutes of attention from the graduate.

+The mother who will work a 14-hour day then head home to make dinner, watch a half of one kid’s game, then zoom off into the night to catch the other’s theatre performance.

+The mother who will wake up at 2 am to worry about their child’s mental or physical health, an imagined slight to their kid, or just to re-live a child’s day.

+The mother of the mother who will drop her life to help out with a grandchild’s illness.

+The mother who will drive another kid home, or somewhere else, or make them dinner when you are late. The ones who treat your kid like their own.

My gratitude today is for the Mothers Who Will. And they almost all do.

Happy Mother’s Day!