Happy Mother's Day!

For today's Sunday Quotation, in honor of a day that makes us feel grateful for our children while reminding us that our lives sometimes wander far from the greeting-card ideal, I'd like to share with my fellow mothers the text of one of the notes in the Love Notes for Special Parents Gallery. You can find a full-size, suitable-for-printing and cutting-out version by clicking on the image at right.

"YOU ARE LOVING. But you understand that love means more than hearts and flowers and candy and pretty words. Love may be enough to move mountains, but it helps if you push, too. Loving your child with special needs means working, fighting, struggling, advocating, teaching, training, modifying, guessing, trying, trying again, analyzing, modifying, accommodating, managing, seeking, pursuing, researching, realizing all the many many things you need to do to help your child and making sure they're done. There may be hugs and kisses and thank you's and ruffly cards and candy hearts along the way, or there may be frustration and isolation and heartache. But your love is stronger than all of that. And somehow, some way, your child will love you for it."