To the greatest mother of all.

She's been there through everything. She wiped you up after your first poop and has been elbow deep in your crap from the day she had you and she's done it all for your entire life with a smile on her face.

A mother's selflessness is unparalleled to any other person you'll ever cross paths with. They sacrifice their time, looks, wardrobes, incomes, health, fitness, feelings all to see you smile - and that is their only payment.

They endure laborious jobs to pay for your comforts and the moment they arrive home, they leap into their other full-time commitment - their husbands and their homes.

Dinner is always on the table, the bedrooms are always clean, the ironing is complete, the dishes are done and dry, the washing is neatly folded...all with a selfless joy I neither understand or know how to emulate.

They say as we grow we're only as good as the people that raise us and if it's true that I'll even be fractionally the mother to my children that my mother has been to me, I'll be nominating myself for a Nobel peace prize because her love is the type that moulds a murky world into a rose-coloured love nest

This mother's day (and every mother's day) it's important we take the chance to thank our selfless mums for the sacrifices they've made for us. This year I've written a poem that dotes on the good stuff – mum comes in no other variety:

I didn't know what lay ahead

But you gave me a heart and head

Born into this world your little girl

You brushed my hair and straightened my curls

Years passed by and I grew older

And all the while I had your shoulder

To laugh, to cry, to kiss, to hold,

A hiding place, my warmth from the cold

I came to you with stories of love,

Your wisdom felt like a gift from above

I came to you with a graze on my knee,

And you gave me the strength to again run free

You armed me with love that strengthened my soul,

You backed my dreams and supported my goals,

You gave me love that is unparalleled

Through every stage of life it’s your hand that I’ve held

You taught me to love, to forgive and forget,

You taught me to live a life without regret,

For every lesson you’ve blessed me with,

I’ve taken it on as a precious gift

You are a woman that gives your heart to strangers,

That loves without expectation, no matter the dangers,

You give your heart and your service to all,

In serving selflessly, you are enthralled,

If I had lived one hundred times more,

You’re the only mother I could ever wish for,

You are everything that I could hope to be,

The greatest gift in life I know, is that God made you for me.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful women out there who have made this world a better place.

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