I spent the Friday morning before Mother’s Day shifting through stories of local moms, hundreds of moms who had been nominated by the people who love them for a giveaway I was running through my photography business with other local businesses. 

The winner had already been chosen at random (Google’s random number generator is a handy tool!), but people had taken the time to write in their stories, and I felt called to honor them. 

I read stories of single mothers who hid their struggles from their kids to make sure their days were always magical, of moms who fought to break vicious cycles of neglectful parenting to give their children what they didn’t get themselves, of moms who spend their days consumed by their children’s needs but still have time to offer a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen. 

The stories went on and on, moms doing for others and rarely for themselves. 

“She is stronger than she thinks she is.”

“The only person that could have made this possible for all of us is my mom, and I really wish there were more people in the world like her”

“As a grown women with a family of my own I often wonder how my mom has been able to accomplish all that she has done always with a smile on her face.”

“I have to hold back tears when I write this...The better question is what doesn’t make her a super mom.”

By the end, I too had tears streaming down my cheeks and a smile on my face. 

These are the women in our neighborhoods. 

These are the women raising the children in our neighborhoods. 

Their struggles make my heart ache, but their successes make it soar. 

Because these moms? These are the moms who are showing their kids that you can be good, you can be kind, you can be giving ... and you can be the sort of person who people look at and think “I really wish there were more people in the world like her.”