I get squirmy this time of year.  I love my mother, and I adore being a mother to my daughter.  But all the Mother’s Day stuff is so sugary and sentimental it makes my teeth hurt.  Yes, it’s worth noting that mothers can be self-sacrificing and loving and put their children first.  (Otherwise, the human race might disappear.)  But that’s just one half of mothering.  I keep looking for the card that says, Dear Mom, I admire your fierceness, your fire, your ire, your righteous indignation and the way you ARE the change that you wanted to see in the world. I love the mama-bear spitfire doggedly determined part of you as much as your gentleness.  Hallmark doesn’t make that card, so I decided to write my own this year, and here it is.  Tenderness and fierceness are both part of mother love.  The world needs both. 

This was first published in Being A Broad magazine, where I write a monthly column called Advice For Renegades.  Reproduced with permission.