Not many things are certain in life. Mysteries abound. Each step involves some degree of risk. It’s good. Life is exciting. Within the challenges and the triumphs we face exists the essential learning that drives us forward. Through the ups and the downs interwoven into life’s fabric is excitement.

There is one certainty in my life however, and it’s a certainty on which my courage and strength for the rest stands. My wife is the most solid and compassionate partner I could have ever imagined. She is an unbelievably amazing spouse and an overwhelmingly remarkable mother.

This astonishing woman and I have four children. Our oldest is six, our youngest is one, and those two sandwich three and a four-year-old siblings. Our house is a whirlwind of noise and motion in any (and every) given moment. It’s a joyful whirlwind of noise and motion, but a whirlwind of noise and motion nonetheless.

My kids need food, and cloths, and permission slips, and book orders, and play dates with their friends, and friends to have play dates with, and diaper changes, and snuggles when they’re scared or hurt, and care when they’re sick, and lessons on courage, and opportunities to practice being courageous, and a set of core values, and opportunities to practice decision-making and action-taking that match those core values, and redirection, and discipline, and understanding, and boat loads of attention, and lot’s of love.

They need endless and unwavering love. They need love that thrives even when they’re loud or defiant. They need to be embraced by genuinely loving arms even when they smell funny. They need to have resolutely loving shoulders to bury their little faces into even when those faces are overrun by gobs of gooey snot. My wife joyfully meets these needs and so many more. Always.

Our kids each need to know that they’re valued and they need to be able to explore their unique and authentic voices. They each need to understand what it means to be a part of our family and a member of our community. They each need to know themselves as individuals while also maintaining special connections to one another, to us, to our extended family, and to our religious and cultural foundations.

The list goes on and on. There is truly no end. My wife’s demands as a mother are inconceivable to me. I don’t know and couldn’t comprehend all of what she does or half of how she does it. I often find myself dumbfounded that the wheels keep turning. She makes it happen.   She always makes it happen and she never drops the ball. We have everything we need. We have everything we could ever want with the possible exception of cookies before dinner (an sometimes we even have that).

My wife is tireless and unstoppable. She won’t be deterred when it comes to her family. She is always there. She is always holding it together. She is always just what we need. Always.

On top of all that, this woman is breathtakingly beautiful inside and out, and she’s energized even through what I can only describe as intensely exhausting daily commitments. She makes it look effortless. Her strength is the scaffolding for my learning and growth, and any successes I ever experience are as a direct result of her support, encouragement, and dedication.

There is really nothing I can do to honor her enough on this Mother’s day or on any day. I can only remain thankful that she chose to partner with me on this mysterious and incredible journey. I can only work to match her resolve and try to find every opportunity to show her how much she is appreciated, by me, by our children, and by everyone who’s life she touches with her generous, authentic, and extraordinary loving kindness.

Trough my trials and with all of my faults I am indeed truly blessed. I am truly blessed to have this beautiful woman to share my life with and to love endlessly. Always.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Live, listen, learn, lead, and always bring your best.