Mother's Day

One of my favorite family photographs is a little square one taken back in the mid-1970s. In the picture, a young, long-haired mom sits at a kitchen table, flanked by her two children who lean in to the center, smiling.

The woman is beautiful and the kids, a son and daughter, are obviously happy.

She went on to have three more children. She grew stronger and wiser, just as those kids did. She set in motion who these five people would become, she helped make me who I am, the husband and parent I'm trying to be.

Thank you, Mom, for all you've done and all you continue to do. And Happy Mother's Day to all of the strong and beautiful women who are a part of my life, from the farthest tip of Florida, to Georgia, all the way up to Naperville, Ill., and back to Memphis, where I'm surrounded by a family and love bigger than I ever could have imagined.