It's been a long week for the mothers, culminating in Mothers' Day (or at least the version we celebrate in the U.S. and Australia).  There are the mothers of Rumbai and Duri who sent their children away on an adventure with a combination of faith and trepidation. These moms endured while their children were ill,  or swimming in unknown lagoons or hiking in distant forests. They let them go because they know that our goal as parents is to encourage independence so that they can grow up and make the world a better place. As painful as it is, our job is to watch them, to encourage them, and to let them fly away.

There are mothers around the world, in Nepal, in Syria, in Haiti whose children are in danger every day and who must bear the burden of being unable to provide for their children's most basic needs.  But they share our hopes and dreams and fears for their children. Today is Mothers' day for all of us. And as mothers we will do our best for our children, whatever that best might be. 

Here is a line from a poem by Kahlil Gibran that has helped me through a lot of my own mothering...