Stands to reason that my daughter, the mother of my three cherished grandchildren, would be one of my favorite moms. I suppose it is not hard to understand that my other special moms have ties to adoption. I do spend a great deal of time with triad members.

One of my dearest friends, and a favorite mom, I met shortly after my reunion. She is the first birth mom that I ever met. I sent her a Mothers' Day card a few years back knowing that it might be the only one that she received. Her only child, a son and father of three, does not want contact with her. He fears that it would hurt his adoptive mom too much. My friend is a loving, caring and thoroughly decent woman. I hope some day her son changes his mind and chooses to know her. He and his children are missing knowing a very special mom and grandmother.

Another mom that I think of a great deal near Mothers' Day is my son's other mom, his adoptive mom. She raised my son to love and respect her and now that I know her, I do too. She has encouraged our reunion and made it comfortable for our son to have a relationship with me. I appreciate that she raised our son to become a warm and loving man. Both his moms are immensely proud of him.

Another special mom is a friend that I have known longer than anyone else. She also happens to be an adoptive mom. I have known her since before she and her husband adopted their two children nearly twenty years ago.

Motherhood has included most of the usual things for my friend. However, becoming an adoptive mom late in life, with little preparation and/or understanding of the unique challenges of raising adopted children has definitely been a struggle for her. She has done her best and given so much of herself to raise her children, nurture them and help direct them to become productive, stable and healthy people.

Another adoptive mom that I only know on-line is a mom that I admire greatly. Her daughters are in their early twenties, and one has recently reconnected with her birth mom. When she adopted her daughters, she received scant information about raising adopted children, plus a great deal of erroneous information. Closed adoptions were the only option offered to her.

However, she trusted her instincts as she raised her daughters and did not subscribe to the conventional “wisdom” of the era and community where she raised her daughters. She spoke of adoption and birth family often with her daughters. The subject of adoption was not "taboo" in her home. During nightly prayers, she encouraged her daughters to think of their birth parents. When her daughter wanted to search, despite the social workers’ warning against searching, she helped her daughter search for and find her birth mom. My on-line friend is an adoptive mom who is enlightened, educated about adoption and raised her daughters in the best possible manner.

Happy Mothers' Day tomorrow to all my favorite moms and to all moms!