This weekend, The Band, we're hosting a carnival of posts about Mother's Day. Before you run away gagging, hear me out: these are the kinds of Mother's Day posts I wish I'd read years ago. Knowing that I was not alone in my struggles was a pivotal point in my life. Today, we celebrate the tables forever missing one. Today we celebrate the mothers we've lost and the mothers we've found. We're celebrating the mothers we wish we'd had while acknowledging the mothers we did have.

This year, The Band, I'm proud to celebrate a carnival of Mother's Day posts from perspectives that aren't always storybook. Perspectives like mine. Perspectives like Jana's. Perspectives like yours.

Today, no matter where you are in your life, whether you're missing your own mom, happily celebrating with family, stuck at a table forever missing one, wishing desperately that you were a mother, or wishing desperately that you had a mother, know these two things: you are loved and we are none of us alone.

When I think of my mom on Mother's Day, I get teary-eyed.

My mom has been there for my family in SO MANY ways in the last five years (well before that, too, but the last 5 especially).

She's been a constant presence in my kids' lives. She's spent countless hours watching them while I worked, went to school or was in the midst of a breakdown from being overwhelmed.

My mother has attended nearly every school concert, art show, and event that the kids have had; which is nice, because sometimes work and school mean that my husband or I miss them. It comforts me to know that my kids will be able to look back and see that grandma cared enough to always be there.

She's helped to clothe them, when times were tough. It's amazing how many times she has just "happened to come across" an item that the kids needed on sale. 

She's helped pay for things like swimming lessons, and activities. And preschool tuition. It pains me that we can't always pay for those things ourselves, but I'm glad to know that my kids aren't paying too much of a price for our unemployment woes. And it's because of my mom.

My mom has also been there for me, as an emotional support. When I began to spiral down into postpartum depression after the birth of my son, my mom was the one who urged me to see someone. She watched my kids during therapy sessions. 

When my husband had to work out of state for months at a time, my mom was the person I could call when I just couldn't take it anymore.

She's talked me down from numerous panic attacks, and been there for me when my marriage was falling apart and as we worked to piece it back together again, too.

My mom has been there for me my whole life, to be honest, but it took the last 5 years to really drive home for me just how much.

Thank you, Mom.

Just, thank you.