This One's for the Mamas (A Mother's Day Tribute)

TO SISTER-IN-LAW #1:
Thank you for your constant example. For teaching me how to love, how to discipline, and how to be the glue that keeps the family together. Thank you for your undying support. For the boxes of hand-me-down baby clothes. For cleaning my house from top-to-bottom shortly after Charlie was born. For your offerings of warm soup and fresh baked bread and a cozy place to crash should I ever need it. But most of all, thank you for encouraging me that I could do this. For being real about the not-so-fun parts, but helping me to see how they're all worth it when your heart infinitely grows to accommodate these little ones.

TO SISTER-IN-LAW #2:
Thank you for your listening ear. For being the only person who understands what it's like to be married to these men of ours. For sharing your stories, your secrets and your unused baby things. Thank you for Mama's nights filled with Mango-ritas. Thank you for movie nights and shopping days. Thank you for forgiving my flakiness and "Stuckert time." But most of all, thank you for being the best stand-in Mommy I could ever ask for, for my little boy.

TO MAMA-IN-LAW:
Thanks for giving me space when I get overwhelmed by the clan. Thank you for your patience, even when you may not understand my anxieties. Thank you for steak, brisket and "Stuckert salad" (wink, wink). Thanks for glasses of wine, sweet text messages and for being my constant writing cheerleader. Above all, thank you for your son. Thank you for raising up a kind, decent and loving man. Thanks for molding him into a wonderful husband and father. Thanks for unknowingly creating the source of my greatest happiness.

TO MOMMY:
Thank you for trips to Switzerland, New Jersey and Disney World. Thanks for fondue, table manners and the Girl Scout promise. Thank you for your sacrifice, 13-hour days and for being our constant in times of instability. Thank you for a hemmed wedding dress, a Jamaican honeymoon and for loving my hubby as your own son. Thank you for homemade Halloween costumes, for potty training and for those awful adolescent years. Thank you for your high expectations, your gypsy spirit and your model of strength. Thank you for teaching me how to Mommy. How to raise independent, self-sufficient and well-mannered kiddos. Thanks for making me, me.

And to all the other Mamas, Happy Mother's Day. I've never been so blessed as to count myself a part of your club.