My 7-year-old daughter came downstairs tonight and said, “Mom, I made something for you.” Then preformed this short but amazingly fabulous rap song. I just about fell out of my chair.

Way better than a Hallmark card could ever be. And it’s captured on my phone, so I can watch it anywhere, anytime. I’ve already watched it half a dozen times in the space of an hour.

I spy joy. I spy love. I spy one lucky momma!

Ahhhh...

Mom and I arrived in San Diego yesterday for a girl’s weekend with long-time friend and mom’s ex-business partner Ginita.  After a leisurely lunch of chicken Caesar salad and chardonnay, we headed for the beach.

The ocean breeze ran through our hair, the fresh salt air filled our lungs, and the fine sand kissed our toes with every step.  There are few things as pleasing to feet as walking barefoot on a sandy beach. 

Add to that popping the washed-up kelp bubbles like a child jumping on plastic bubble-wrap and I felt as though I was 4, rather than 40.  A fabulous day, indeed.

Today is Mother’s Day. In addition to having three, maybe four moms when you include a step-mom, a mother-in-law and an almost-mom along with my own mother; I too, am a mom.

Not to be taken lightly, motherhood is serious business. It taxes your body, your mind and your wallet; and it throws in several gray hairs to really sweeten the deal. Having said that, being a mom is the most joyous experience I have ever had.

I know that sounds way too much like a sappy Hallmark card, but it’s the absolute truth. The joys my children bring me are unable to be counted. Every single time I am the lucky recipient of a hug or a kiss I melt like chocolate in the palm of their hands. Even a flash of a smile lifts my spirits at least by a quotient of three. These are only the most obvious joys.

Off the top of my head, others include: watching them sleep, seeing their barely awake faces come down the stairs in the morning, listening to them read, hearing them laugh, watching them grow, seeing how much they love each other, watching them learn, seeing their excitement as they discover a robin’s nest complete with little blue eggs, hearing them say, “mom”, watching them reason, seeing their little chests breathe in and out, being the tooth fairy, seeing them be kind to others, and the list goes on and on.

Being a mom has made me older and younger simultaneously. It has expanded my capacity for love, and fear, exponentially. It has made me an infinitely better person in the areas of patience, non-judgment, tolerance and compromise. And it has given me a greater sense of purpose than any job or desire I have to help improve the world around me.

Today is Mother’s Day. Just one of the many days I am proud and overjoyed to call myself a mom.