I know I've posted twice already today. But I don't care. This post is about mothers, who are the most amazing beings on the planet.

The truth is, mothers are magic. They are endowed with the divine ability to take ordinary things and turn them into something fantastic, wonderful, extraordinary, beautiful, thrilling, and exotic. A trip to the grocery store suddenly becomes a date - time with mommy and only mommy, helping mommy, followed by a treat as both incentive to be helpful and special time together. When I was little, this meant "going Krogering" followed by a trip to Baskin-Robbins or McDonalds for ice cream or french fries; now it means going to Whole Foods Market, aftewards stopping by the gelato bar for a $6 cup of designer coffee-that-isn't.

My mother and I have always been extremely close. Alike in temperment and disposition, we enjoy each other's company and find solace in each other's confidence. As a recently divorced woman, my mother has shown courage and resilience of an extraordinary degree. She's still laughing, still hopeful, still the beautiful and extraordinarily brilliant person I have always been proud to claim as my mother. I hope, when I have children, I am to them what my mother is to me.

I've been told that, as teenagers, we grow away from our parents - that we rebel, and consequently that my mom and I will grow apart. I've been told that the mother-daughter relationship will loosen and there will be coldness, friction, tension, strife and what-have-you as I become my own person. This is supposed to be inevitible, even healthy.

Well, I'm living proof that this theory is not accurate. My relationship with my mother has only deepened and strengthened over time. We have never had a fight, or even an argument. I think this is due to the fact that she has never tried to control me, never tried to change me - she has always supported me in my decisions, believing that I will make the right choices, but not because she tells me what to do. Rather, because if she's "raised me right" I'll know how to decide what's right or wrong, profitable or hurtful, for myself, not for anyone else and at no one else's urging or plea. She's never stopped me from growing up or tried to smother my self-expression, even when it wasn't comfortable for her (two things that spring immediately to mind are my semi-gothic phase of dress, and my more recent foray into the world of tattoos). As a result of this trust, love, and support, she's gone from being "my mother" to being my mentor and best friend. As I've begun to enter the world of adulthood, my mother has changed roles in my life, but never changed in importance.

I know many young people like myself - proud of our mothers, glad to know them, thrilled to be their children and humbled to be their friends. One of my best friends, Susan Mitchell's son Sam, is one such young man - a truly extraordinary person, blessed, like myself, with a mother's magic.

Never discount the value of a mother. She is precious beyond all price.