To Any Kind of Mother:

Hello Mothers,

I thought I would write you a special note on your day.

You may be a mother. You could be the kind of Mother who gave birth to her children. You may be the kind of Mother who adopted or are fostering children. You may not be a Mother, but a Mother-figure for some. Whatever kind of Mother you are... you are a Mother regardless.

So here's to all you influential women out there from a girl who loves all kinds of Mothers.

We see you. We know how hard you work to get up at six in the morning to make breakfast and get our clothes laid out for another day at kindergarten. We see you when you have big, dark bags under your eyes because we haven't given you enough 'you' time. We see you when you heave a sigh while cleaning your millionth toy. We see when you open the fridge, ready to have your morning cereal and you realize that we drank all the milk. We see you when you pick us up from soccer with six of our other friends who scream the entire way home. We see you when you look disappointed after an appointment with our principal. We see you when you take off your heels after a long day of work where the boss yelled at you, but you sit and listen to us talk about our long day. We see when you struggle to pretend that everything is okay.

We see you when you hug and cheer us on even when we felt like giving up. We see you when you kiss our cuts and scrapes and tell us everything will be okay. We see you as you scold some kids who called us 'freaks' because we didn't come from your tummy. We see you when you always have a smile on your face as you greet us coming home from school. We see you when you make our favourite dinner because you know we had a bad day. We see you when you take an extra moment to kiss our forehead and look longingly at us as we sleep. We see you with the love in your eyes when you first adopted us. We see you through the good times and the bad times. We see you and we love you.

To the various Mother-figures in my life, I am so so grateful to have you. You inspire me, you push me to be the best I can be and you always have a listening ear. You watch out for me even though you aren't expected to. I love that there are many loving women who will always be there for me and who I consider Mom.

To my Mother, who wanted a daughter so much that she flew across the world to come get me. A day does not go by that I am grateful to have such a loving Mother who loves me for me- quirks and all. You raised me and made me believe that love is not blood. You never cease to amaze me by taking a stand for what you truly believe. Do you remember when you warned over fifteen teenagers how dangerous roughhousing on a bridge is with me slung on your back because I had a splinter on the bottom of my foot and refused to walk? That moment still makes me laugh, but it reminds me that you're courageous and no one can stop you. You always celebrated my heritage and encourage me to inspire others with my story. You always believed in me even when I didn't. Not only do you love me, but you love my birth family and that is one of the many things that I love about you. You will always be my Mother.

To my birth Mother, who was not able to keep me. I hope you understand that I am happy. I am happy with everything that has made me me, including my adoption. I know it may have been really hard for you and you may think about me every day, but just so you know, I wouldn't change being adopted for anything. I enjoy the thought that some of my personality traits and physical traits come from you and I can't wait to meet you one day and see what else we have in common. Until then, know that I am happy that I have enough love from so many Mothers in my life, including yourself.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day to all kinds of Mothers out there because we see you and we love you.