Mom

Having children does change you, I think. It grounds you, lets you know what unconditional love is (and, as importantly, isn’t) and requires you to think about something other than your petty problems. It is responsibility – acting poorly and not showing love affects a child when he or she becomes an adult.

One way it changed me is that it completely altered how I viewed my own mother. As a teen, I focused on the negative concerning my Mom’s behavior: the continual tensions with my father, the divorce, her obsessive compulsiveness and occasional nosiness. I was a child when I did this. Raising a child, particularly one as different as I, is inherently difficult. I don’t see Sophie as much as I would like, but every time I do I realize how much patience, time and effort it takes to help raise a happy, well-adjusted child. My mom is a natural: watching her interact with Sophie is spectacular. Mom treats Sophie as a princess, which, of course, she is. That means the world to me.

Over the course of the last ten years, I’ve seen my Mom for both the good and the bad. Yes, she does occasionally drive me nuts. But I drive people nuts, as well. The important thing about my mother is that irrespective of her idiosyncrasies, she drops everything if I need anything because I’m her son. It is unconditional love – the same I feel for my daughter. There really aren't a lot of people you will love unconditionally over the course of your life.

And today, that’s the only thing I’ll focus on.