Today I had a lovely luncheon with the mothers in my family. The invited them over for a yummy lunch and we had a wonderful time. As I sat aound the table with my mom, grandmother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law I had to smile.

We are all unique women. My sister-in-law is Hispanic. My grandmother is 87 and from a very different generation. My mother-in-law only had one child. My mother is a widow. If we were not related our paths may never have crossed. But with all our differences we share a most common bond–motherhood.

For Mother’s Day this year I wanted to cook for my family, as it is one way I express love. Our table was decorated with flowers, candles and other girly things, punctuated with construction paper cards for all from my kids. And there were little expressions of love all around, including glycerine soap and brass bookmarks. Through three courses we laughed and reminisced as we shared tales of our mothering experiences. There were stories of children and all that raising children entails. The day was simply wonderful. (A lunch at home beats a crazy mother’s day restaraunt meal any day!)

It was nice to remind myself that all moms everywhere understand the language of motherhood. It is a language of hope, of compassion and of angst. It is bittersweet to raise up children to not be dependent on you anymore. But as moms we are all on some point in this path and it’s nice to reach out a hand from time to time and share the journey.