It's Father's Day...

I know, to many it's just another greeting card holiday, but to me Father's Day is something much more. Not because I had a wonderful father or anything, because I promise you I did not, but because I had something more.  A wonderful mother.

As I watch my facebook feeds fill up with loving messages of father appreciation, I sit and wonder if it would be wrong of me to add to it a loving message for my mother.

You know her. The one who is fighting her cancer daily for another day on this Earth to be with her family, her friends, her loved ones. The one who taught me to believe in myself even if I didn't think any one else believed in me. The woman who taught me to be brave and be strong and set such a good example of how to be a loving person, that I had no choice but to be a compassionate person who strives daily to measure up to the pure kindness and goodness that is who she is.

This isn't to say that I don't have dads to celebrate on a day like today. Ron is a great dad. Stink is a great dad. My FIL is a great PopPop. So, I do. I just feel bad that today it would be taking away from them for me to celebrate my mom again on another greeting card holiday.

I can't help but celebrate her again today though. Because she has always stepped in to the "dad" shoes when I needed someone to be my "dad." She helped me learn how to drive s stick shift even though she herself didn't know how. She helped me with my foul shots when I played basketball even though she had never played. When a boyfriend wasn't good for me, she told me to walk away and not look back and offered to kick his ass when he continued to harass me (although my mother doesn't say the word 'ass' she says 'tuckus' or 'hiney'). When I was scared, she protected me. When I felt down, she picked me up. When I felt lost, she came and found me (she still digs me out from the dark places I find myself in even if it's only under a pile of laundry).

This wonder woman was more of a father than the man who legitimately holds the title and for that I think she deserves to hear "Happy Father's Day, Mom." So to all the moms out there who stepped in for a man and became both Mom and Dad for a kid, "Happy Father's Day to you." You deserve to be recognized too.

Mom & I. She's never let me go since!