Their connection to you is unlike that of any other person in the world.

Somewhere, somehow, someplace, no matter your age or place on planet earth, they are always there, nestled in the background as if part of the landscape, a ubiquitous presence with soft eyes, silently urging you on.

No doctor’s office or emergency room can rival the healing power of their arms when one gets hurt at 6 years of age.

They can hear from any distance, see through concrete walls, reveal the past and predict the future.

They are your faithful fan, your unpaid publicist, your nurturer at birth, teacher at youth, encourager in adolescence and admirer in adulthood.

Though they came to you at no cost, their worth is more than all the world.

They are a counselor, doctor, chef, mechanic, cheerleader and teacher all in one human body.

Whatever they have is yours, no matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice. And they ask nothing in return.

They know your hurts and injuries. They watched you try and fail and try and fail again. They were there when you needed a comforter and stood by when they knew pain would make you stronger.

They watched you struggle with inadequacies and insecurities and were there for your broken legs and broken hearts.

They grappled with you over math and history, over not making the team or not being asked to the prom. Over your first speeding ticket or not being accepted at that college. Through high fevers and raging hormones.

They watched you trying to figure out life and sometimes getting it all wrong.

They cried when you cried and worried when you should have been worrying. And through it all, even had you tried, you could never have escaped their unrelenting, unending , incomparable love.

Who are these creatures? Who are these astounding beings? Do they exist on this earth?

Ah! You need but venture to the home of your youth. Step inside and you will be in their very presence. For it is your mother.