Mother’s Day is a tough holiday. While it’s a day to celebrate Mom, my heart aches as there are so many people who’ve lost their mother to illness or an accident.

Then there are those whose mothers are alive but were never invested in their child’s life. The adult child has no reason to shower flowers and bathrobes on a woman who never seemed to care.

There’s the moms who weren’t born into that role but gladly took on mom responsibilities and love their children with all their heart.

And let’s not forget dads who step in for moms due to circumstances beyond their control. They learn to braid hair, console a broken heart and find out the best place to get a mani or pedi when their girl’s having a tough week.

Throughout the ages, women have struggled to be the perfect mom. Many moms of the 1970s and 1980s  tried to balance the home front and an out-of-the-house job. Most of the time, we succeeded, but there were quite a few fast-food dinners at the ball park  we probably regret.

Moms of the 1990s bought into the theory that we could have a pre-dawn exercise routine, hold down high-powered jobs, enroll 2.5 children on every soccer, baseball, softball, yoga and swimming team within 50 miles of our house and still get our exhausted family in the minivan for a happy ride into the sunset.

Some moms of the 2000’s are trying to be like Beyonce or Princess Kate, both of whom seemed to drop the baby weight like we drop a Hot Pocket snagged out of the microwave.

We still haven’t grasped the reality that the best moms have their own style. They rear their offspring with a firm hand and a loving heart. They’re always a mom, whether they’re wearing designer jeans, sweat pants, on crutches, in a wheelchair or washing your dirty laundry.

Moms never eat the last piece of pizza or the last scoop of vanilla ice cream. In fact, the word “last” figures high in their vocabulary – they’re the last ones to turn off the lights in a child’s bedroom and the last one out of the kitchen at night.

So what do moms want on Mother’s Day? To hear their child’s voice, whether they’re 5 or 60 years old. Remember, this is the voice that called out to them in the middle of the night and yelled in triumph after catching a lizard in the flower bed.

This is the voice that telephoned for rides after they missed the bus, asked a thousand times if they had any clean underwear and, at least a million times, asked if there was anything to eat.
There are moms who would give anything to hear their child’s voice just one more time, and every person’s heart breaks for that parent.

And there are “those voices,” the whiney ones that swore their lives were ruined because we were too strict or wouldn’t let them wear makeup or short skirts.

Kids, I’ll tell you a secret. Moms will tell you they don’t remember that voice. They only remember the way your voice sounded when they tucked you in at night and you whispered “Sleep next to me, mommy, so I feel safe.”

On this Mother’s Day, remember it’s not the expensive gifts, lunch at a fancy restaurant or a new bathrobe that’ll make your mother happy. It’s your voice she wants to hear.

So call, just to say you love her, and remind her that, at this point in time, you’ll be the one to keep her safe.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.