TODAY IS AS GOOD A DAY AS ANY TO APPRECIATE MOM

Millions of grateful children across America will honor their mothers in various demonstrative ways today, from serving breakfast in bed to sending flowers or giving jewelry. As wonderful as this outpouring of gratitude may be, mothers deserve far more than the observance of one arbitrarily-chosen spring holiday.

My mom has never failed me, and she's often played the role of both a mother and father, since my dad lost a battle with lymphoma cancer when I was 10 years old. Through the years, she has been a constant source of inspiration, a confidant, an ally, a teacher, a tireless homemaker, a breadwinner and so much more.

Drawing on her vast reserves of determination, my mom returned to the classroom to finish college--while working and raising my sister and I--from which she graduated with the qualifications to earn a better living as a radiologic technologist and eventually as a mammographer. She has never faltered or wavered as she shoulders the weighty burdens of children, home and work.

Though the song itself is about the lead singer's split with his longtime fiancee, there is a snippet of Brave Saint Saturn's "Independence Day" that will always remind me of my mom.

"You're strong and resilient/ Beautiful and brilliant/ Proving that you're free/ Independently"

With a legacy like this etched in the lines of her face, shouldn't every day be Mother's Day?