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Karen’s note: I discovered this wonderful tribute to moms and sons many years ago, but cannot recall the source. If you know where it comes from, drop me a line! I’d love to give credit to the wise and funny mom who wrote it.

Mothers only want their kids to say, “Thanks, Mom.”  Something, anything to let us know all those sleepless nights and anxious days weren’t for nothing.

I got that in spades this year.  Along with exactly the perspective and laughter I needed: A reminder there’s no such thing as a Perfect Mother. . . or a Perfect Child.  We’re all simply human beings, doing the best we can.

Here is the ultimate college kid card that was attached to the flowers from my son.  I couldn’t make this up if I tried:

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!  I love you and I will see you in a week!  Love, Me  PS I paid with your credit card because I left mine at the bar the other  night, no need to worry.  I’ll pay you back when I  get home.

(I thought:  “Just come home and give your mother a kiss.  That’s all the payment I need.”)

That card is framed and hanging in the kitchen — the story already a family favorite.  The kid took the ribbing well and got the point, as you will see.

Two years later he gave us the gift of heart-bursting pride. We paid for that one too. But, oh, it was worth it. He graduated college with honors and a signed job offer … on Mother’s Day. The next year, working, busy, living on his own, I thought at best I’d get a call, a card … or a belated, if sincere apology. Wrong. Once again he managed to blow me away. By honoring not only me, but two of his aunts and one of his grandmothers … my survivor sisters and my late mother-in-law. This Mother’s Day message tells me my job as a mother –with the help of his father and our extended family– is just about complete:

I wish a Happy and Healthy Mother’s Day to MOM … to all the other mothers in my life and to All Mothers Everywhere!

Just be careful with your credit cards.