Happy Mother’s Day to all who are blessed enough to own the title “Mother.”

When we became mothers, we anticipated the journey of motherhood. First, we anticipated the journey of pregnancy—how our bodies would change. Not only how our bodies would have to adjust and make room for this new life, but also how our thoughts and actions would have to continually readjust to all the new changes.

As there are dozens and dozens of books telling us what to expect while you’re expecting, it just doesn’t prepare you emotionally for the actual process of child birth. It’s hard to put your finger on the pain-joy experience. Nothing in this world fills your heart up more than finally holding your child in your arms and saying your first face-to-face hellos.

It’s an unexplainable event and just the beginning of a complex journey across vast and unknown territories. It is fast and furious, and something you must be sure to strap your helmet on for—like riding a motorcycle across the 101 California coastline or it may be more like braking and controlling the tight switchback roads of Arizona’s, New Mexico’s and Colorado’s Route 666. Phew, breathe.

They say time flies and we should embrace every second of our children’s early years because before you know it, they have flown the coop. They are right; time does fly. We can very easily get caught up in certain precious moments as they mature and grow, and sometimes others are moments we pray pass quickly so we can get to the next phase.

There are many twists and turns we must navigate and teach ourselves new paths throughout the years of motherhood. For instance, giving attention to a child who is well deserving of it and when to ignore the attention they seek through their manipulation or poor behavior techniques. How long does it take us until we understand just that one little lesson? The funny thing is that one lesson will be used throughout our lives and into the golden years of our parents and one day for us as well, but by then it will carry on a whole different meaning.

Breathe.

My children are now 15 and 17 years old and I know I have a ways to go, but I can say it has been a journey—one I would not have wanted to miss. I can now clearly see and relate to the challenges, pains, worry and laugh-so-hard-you-cried moments my mother experienced with me and my brothers. We were blessed many times over. How many times did she have to change the course she had planned just to accommodate our needs versus hers?

So, now I find myself going through many of the same cycles my mother had, and probably her mother as well. After all, many of us do our best to carry on certain traditions and, in order to do that, history must repeat itself.

There are many life-changing events and circumstances we go through as we age—some for the better, some make things more challenging. Roles have a way of reversing themselves and before we know it, our mothers become the ones needing their children’s attention and we become their caregiver, trying to figure out what critical needs must be met and how to handle those needs. Our mothers handled our needs when we were unable to meet our own needs early on. It is no different, just reversed.

In most cases, the brain and body slowly reverse and return to that of a child. It is human nature, a natural part of age and decline. Try your best not to become frustrated by that, instead, reach out to your elderly parents, embrace them longer, hold their hands, push them in their wheelchair, sing with them, dance with them, read to them or listen to their stories for the 100th time like it was the first time you ever heard it. Don’t we all like the feeling of being safe, cared for and looked after? You may need a helmet for this part of the journey as well, but at the end of the day, you will feel peace in your heart and mind and find yourself with a smile on your face.

Have a very Happy Mother’s Day every day— Peace!