My daughter, Jodi, bought me a new king-size bed for Mother's Day. That was quite a gift from a 25 year old, but “I deserve it!” We both laughed because I said to her in a wimpy, child-like voice, “Honey, does that mean you won't spend Mother's Day with me and buy me anything I want?“ We usually spend the entire day at the lake, or go to someplace like Callaway Gardens, and I wasn't trading a day with her (my day) for anything!

    I am a single mother, and all my success and blessings directly or indirectly evolve around my babe. I was the perfect mom, in one regard. I always loved her first. I remember when Jodi was around twelve, and her little friend was dealing with a step-dad problem. She asked Jodi, “What if your mom married? How would you feel?” Jodi replied, “Lindsay, my mother would never marry someone that I didn't love and that didn't love me.” What a wonderful thing to say!

    You know, I look back and say, I'm stronger. I'm more independent. I'm smarter, sharper, wiser. I'm a true survivor and the crap that was handed me made me a better person today! Maybe that's true, or maybe it's another level of denial or just another survival skill.

    Our lives are like a ping-pong game. One side of the table is our past, the other our future. Every action today has a link to the past. We can say, “I will not let my past influence my life any more.”

    And that's good! But not that simple. Mother's Day is a good time to heal issues about our moms and it's important to do so. Choosing your own time to re-visit a painful experience or time in your life is far better than to have it “trigger us” unexpectedly when we're dealing with our own children.