Mother’s Day weekend. I love to call it the “weekend” because you get to celebrate longer! 😉

Today I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to my MOM!

My mother is one of my best friend’s… she has always been there for me, and that’s a pretty wonderful thing to know and to say about someone. She’s my (what I like to say) “first call” when something GREAT happens because I know her excitement and enthusiasm will continually be contagious! Recently one of my son Alex was asked, “What makes your mom so special?” For him… it was my hugs and that I let him wear the green army coat to school every day. Ahh… the love of a 4-yr old.

For me, for my own mom… What makes her so special is everything and anything. There are so many things that make my mom special to me, it’s difficult to just name one. And if you know my mom in real life, you know what I mean. She’s one of a kind. It’s the handwritten notes she would leave on my lunch bag. It’s the driving hours and hours and hours to swim meets and sitting in hot, stuffy pools while I practiced. It’s calling me every morning when I lived in NYC to make sure I got to work OK. It’s planning beautiful birthday parties, showers and family dinners for everyone in our family. It’s the tradition on May 1st of calling me and playing Camelot’s “It’s May!” on the phone. It’s taking me all over the country to look at colleges and understanding 100% why I ended up going 15 miles away from home. It’s believing in my dreams and goals in life just as much as I believe. It’s seeing her with my sons and seeing the joy, happiness and love they bring her. It’s being there with a hug, a kiss and a shoulder to lean on whenever I need. It’s seeing her work so hard for so many years and instilling in us a great work ethic. It’s wanting the best life for us… now and always. It’s remembering all the moments in life between the two of us… it’s just special. I’ve always told my mom that my grandfather (her father who passed away right before she met my father) sent me to her. My mother never had a sister and I think it’s one thing in life she would have loved to have had… so my grandfather sent her 2 daughters, sisters. I remember at a very young age thinking this, almost as if it had been told to me somewhere, somehow by him… and it’s stayed with me forever. I was meant for my mom, and she was meant for me. The bond is strong, familiar and tight as can be.

And truly, for me… it’s wanting to be for my sons, what she is to me. If I can be half a mom to them as she has been to me… I will feel beyond successful.

I love you, Mom… Happy Mother’s Day!! May it be relaxing, wonderful and just the kind of day you want it to be!

P&G is doing something VERY special for moms right now. They are reuniting moms with their children through their “Thank You Mom Reunions” contest. They are bringing families together for milestone occasions they may have otherwise have missed. Each month (for 10 months), they will reunite 15 moms with their children. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it!

How to enter:
1. Log onto ThankYouMom.com and enter to win a travel voucher to help cover the cost of a special reunion with your mom or mom figure in their life.
2. Write a 100 word essay describing why you’d like to be united with your mom.
3. Spread the word to friends and family to vote for your entry because the ones with the most votes win.
4. Winners will also receive a portable digital video camera to capture their reunion and are encouraged to share the video on ThankY​ouMom.com.

ELIGIBILITY: This promotion is open only to residents of the 49 United States (excluding Maine) and the District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Employees of Procter & Gamble, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion and internet agencies and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. Void in Maine and where prohibited by law.