Today is Mother’s Day, and as I’ve reflected on the mothers in my life, I keep coming back to one simple realization:
Most mothers are carrying far more than anyone around them fully understands.
Not just the responsibility of caring for children, but the invisible emotional weight of constantly wondering:
“Am I doing enough?”
My mom carried that question for much of my childhood.
My parents divorced when I was seven, and I lived with my mom for most of my younger years. She worked full-time for the teen parent program while also going to college at night to earn her master’s degree. By the time I was a senior in high school, she was still grinding through long days and evening classes, doing everything she could to provide for me and my sister.
Financially, things were not always easy.
And over the years, my mom has often expressed regret that she could not give us more.
But I’ve told her many times:
You gave us the most important thing.
You filled us with love.
As I grew older, I realized how much that mattered.
In many ways, I started thinking about fatherhood when I was only eleven years old. I knew I wanted to be a more present father to my future children than my own father had been able to be for us.
What I did not realize back then is that I was probably evaluating every woman I dated through one quiet question:
“Would she be an incredible mother someday?”
Looking back now, it makes perfect sense why I fell in love with Renee and married her only three years later, even though neither of us expected life to unfold that quickly.
Everything Renee does is rooted in love for our twins, Eden and Xen.
Long before they were born, she was already preparing herself to be the best mother she could possibly be. She read books on prenatal care. We attended Lamaze classes she never even got to use. She took breastfeeding classes and hired a lactation specialist because she was determined to make sure she could provide enough milk for two babies at once.
She bought a special nursing pillow designed for twins.
She wore a pink bracelet on one wrist and a blue bracelet on the other so she could remember which baby nursed on which side during each feeding. After every feeding, she would switch the bracelets so they alternated evenly.
That is who Renee is.
Intentional.
Devoted.
All in.
When she unexpectedly went into labor at 32 weeks, she did everything she could to keep the babies inside longer. She fully planned to stay in the hospital for another eight weeks if that’s what it took.
But as we quickly learned, there was absolutely no stopping the will of Eden.
She was ready to enter the world, and nothing was going to prevent her from arriving on one of Renee’s favorite days of the year: Tax Day, April 15th.
Xen seemed perfectly content to stay put a little longer, but even then, I think he already understood there was no point resisting his sister’s determination.
As the years unfolded, Renee continued to pour herself into motherhood in ways that constantly amazed me.
When the twins turned three, we moved back to Ohio so they could grow up around grandparents and cousins. Later, we returned to Florida after realizing that raising them in the sunshine and in the life we were building here was better for all of us.
When they started elementary school, Renee joined the PTA.
One year later, she became PTA President.
What was supposed to be a two-year commitment turned into three because of the impact she was making. To this day, teachers and faculty at Bentley Elementary School still talk about her leadership and presence there.
Then came 2016.
When Renee was diagnosed with breast cancer, everything became very real very quickly.
And yet through all of it, the thing that drove her most was simple:
She wanted to survive for her children.
It was one of the hardest seasons of our lives, but the doctors and nurses repeatedly commented that they had never seen someone move through treatment the way Renee did. Even during chemotherapy and surgeries, she continued showing up for the PTA, for the school, for our children, for me, and for our business. She even kept running, except on chemo days.
She refused to stop loving fully.
Even when life gave her every reason to retreat inward.
That same spirit showed up again in 2020 during our first Soulful Leadership Retreat.
At 3:30 in the morning, before the retreat even began, Renee woke up at Shingle Creek Resort, drove to Universal Orlando Resort, ran a 10K race, drove back, showered, and made it downstairs to the registration table before the first guest arrived.
She moved through the morning so quickly that she didn’t even realize she had won first place in her age group until the following day.
That story says almost everything about Renee.
How she shows up.
How she loves.
How she fully commits to the people and responsibilities she cares about most.
Especially as a mother.
Now that Eden and Xen are sixteen, Renee gets to experience one of the greatest rewards of motherhood:
Friendship with her children.
We get to attend concerts together.
Travel together.
Laugh together.
Experience life together.
And our children know, without question, that their mother would do absolutely anything for their happiness, well-being, and future.
Not every child gets to experience the kind of intentional love Renee gives so freely.
And I know Mother’s Day can carry many different emotions for many different people.
Some people have beautiful relationships with their mothers.
Some carry pain, grief, distance, or unresolved wounds.
Some mothers are struggling deeply with their relationships with their children right now.
So wherever this day finds you, my hope is simple:
May you feel peace.
May you feel unconditional love.
And may you remember that even imperfect love, when it is genuine, can shape a life forever.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who continue showing up and doing their best to keep their babies happy and healthy at every age.
The love you give, especially in all the small everyday ways, shapes lives more than you may ever fully realize.