

It wasn’t often, but it was extreme-like an overloaded balloon that suddenly pops and makes everyone in earshot startle with fear. In the midst of my highly distracted life, I started a new practice that was quite different from the way I behaved up until that point. “The important thing about my mom is … she’s always there for me, even when I get in trouble.” But the Mother’s Day poem I received from my 9-year-old daughter was especially meaningful. In fact, the first line of the poem caused my breath to catch as warm tears slid down my face. I cherish the notes I receive from my children-whether they are scribbled with a Sharpie on a yellow sticky note or written in perfect penmanship on lined paper.
