With Mother’s Day approaching my heart and mind can not imagine what it’s like to miss my mom, or be a mother missing her child. My mother is a daily constant in my life that I have the privilege to talk to at least three or four times a day, and see about as often weekly.

I am so very grateful to God for her, and any of us blessed to still have someone respond to our call of “Mom, Mama, Mommy or Mother” should also be so. However, I am not blind to the fact that so many men and women I love are without the mothers they love. I’m also not blind to the fact that there are many mothers that are also without the opportunity to hear the names “Mom, Mama, Mommy or Mother” called by the child they birthed and lost far too soon.

Thinking of my own mother, who has lost her mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, best friend and other special women in her life, and close family and friends who are without their moms, or have tragically dealt with the devastating sting of losing a child, I am amazed at their ability to still live and love through their pain. I’m well aware of loved ones, men and women, young and old, who mean the world to me and the sadness this time of year often brings. My heart gets heavy, guilt-ridden even, as I think of what they must be living through. I feel helpless in helping them.

I’m sending them all a virtual hug and simply want them all to know that they are loved, thought of, cared about and prayed for. I wish anyone experiencing the loss of a mother or the loss of a child more JOY than their hearts can handle, more PEACE than their souls can stand, more FOND MEMORIES than their minds can fathom and more HOPE than their worlds can welcome. I wish them love on Mother’s Day and everyday.

-Angela Moore