Recently a winemaker I love shared a post I had written last year for Mother’s Day. It was a light-hearted guide to picking a wine that suited your mom’s personality. As I was trying to think of an angle for this year, I decided to look back at posts from year’s past.

The first one I wrote coincided with an online tasting I had participated in. A discussion of how comparing wines from one region to another for educational purposes is one thing. But when comparing leads one to dismiss the qualities that make one region unique, it can be detrimental. A subsequent conversation with a dear friend lead me to tie in how we, as mothers, can get lost in the comparison game and lose what makes us unique. We can get off track, lose joy, feel inadequate when we focus on what we won’t do, can’t do, wish we had instead of honoring each individual relationship. It was called Being Enough this Mother’s Day, reminders I still need.

One year, my heart was particularly sensitive to those for whom the day was a painful reminder of missed loved ones, missed opportunities, a missing piece.

In the end, was a tribute to my own mother. With reflection, that should have perhaps been a separate piece. And there was a separate one, of fond memories and lessons from my mother that still resonate.

The opportunity and impetus to write was born out of my own experience of motherhood, a role and blessing that has changed me in ways I could not have imagined. And it will continue to change me as my relationship with my children evolves. And I am so grateful for the time I have had with them, the people they are becoming. I am grateful that my own mother followed us down to Texas to be a part of her grandchildren’s lives. I am grateful for the friends, my mom’s friends, old and new who keep me on track and love me enough to say and do hard things. And for my husband, together we gave one another the chance to love and know and nurture and grow with our children.

I’m the end, rather than recreating, I think this year was about revisiting, reflecting, and anticipating. Wherever you are in life, celebrating you mom, a mom, or someone who “mommed” you when you needed it, Happy Mother’s Day!