Sunday is Mother's Day. Hallmark has the full range of cards, candy shops are gearing up for the last minute surge, florists have added a few dollars to the price of long-stemmed roses.
But this year, I realize that for many, it's just another day.
January 31, my mother lost her fight with cancer. Actually, it was more of a calculated surrender; she'd had the lower half of one lung removed early in 2004, and when the cancer returned in the other lung, she decided that enough was enough and stopped the chemo.
So this year is the first Mother's Day that I don't have a mother. But there are many that have gone through this for several years: children who have lost their mothers to violence, to alcohol or drugs, to mental illness; children estranged from their mothers; children whose mothers are in prison; children whose mothers are in the military.
In addition, I am not a mother, and have no plans to be. There will be no breakfast in bed, no cards, no flowers.
However, I'm not totally without reason to celebrate. I will be having brunch with my other mother, my mother-in-law, the woman who gave birth to the man I love and raised him to be the gentle, caring, wonderfully frustrating person he is today.
So, as you celebrate Mother's Day, whether it be with your mother, your significant other's mother, or the mother of your children, keep in mind all those for whom Mother's Day is just another Sunday.
And Happy Mother's Day to all our Kossack mothers and mothers-to-be...