WHAT IS A MOTHER?
Fr. Michael Petrides, ST. GEORGE, New Port Richey, FL

A mother, human though she is, is that wonderful person whose love knows no bounds, never wavering, never wanting. She is, perhaps the rarest of all God`s creations, for she is the truest.
From the very first day she becomes a mother, hers is a strange destiny. She has no eight-hour days, no five-days-a-week, no employee benefits, no paid vacations. Hers is a seven-day-a-week, twenty-four hours a day job crowded full of chores and crises. Her nerves seem made of steel and her fortitude near super-human. She is a specialist, a chauffeur and countless other things. She is endowed with a gift of knowing: knowing when to laugh, when to cry, when to be firm and when to be tender.
A mother is skilled at wiping away tears, soothing hurt feelings, mending broken toys, ironing frilly dresses, patching blue jeans and a multitude of things belonging to a child`s world.
A mother copes with all types of situations. The first day of school, the first date, the first broken heart, and many nights of worry.
But after all is said and done, a mother finds a special kind of fulfillment when her children are grown and yet her concern and love do not end. She then becomes a woman wondering about adult children, where they are and what they are doing. A mother, then, is the one person you always expect to be there when you need her. She is that wonderful memory of childhood, that tender guide of youth, that strong stability of adulthood, in a few words, that one unforgettable person who made out of a house a loving home.