One of my all-time favorite pictures that captures the loving bond between mother and child – Mama Zoey snuggling with her baby Rolz when he was about 4 weeks old.

I will be off-line most of the weekend celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom as well as my mother-in-law, so I wanted to make sure to wish all of you a Happy Mother’s Day in advance in case I miss you!

It’s kind of a bittersweet day because not everyone has a mom to celebrate with, or a mom that they have a perfect relationship with, so I kind of take it in stride and just celebrate it in the broadest sense possible because the act of mothering can imply so many things to so many of us.

A mother can be someone who fosters rescues animals, or it can be a dad, or a sister, or a friend, or a mentor. A mother can cross ages, species, races, and so much more. To me, mothering is a state of mind and not necessarily a physical relationship born of blood.

Rolz is all grown up now, but he is still very much a Mama’s boy!

Peanut and Mia adore their Mama as seen in this beautiful pictures of the girls hanging out together!

My beautiful Zoey is a perfect example of that. She has her own kittens that she raised – 3 of which that still live with us (the other is happily living in Boston – a loving shout out to Zeuss Catt) and she readily stepped up as a mom figure to our rescues, Kizmet and Jazmine.

Mothering comes in all forms – even though Kizmet is not related to Zoey by birth, the relationship they share is loving and nuturing.

Christmas last year – Zoey and Jazmine sharing a quiet moment…

Mothering is not just Zoey loving her feline family – it is the love and care I give my babies to ensure that they are happy, healthy, and safe and sound.

And then there is the mothering relationship that comes from love and friendship. I now have a stepdaughter living with me – Jackie. She already has a wonderful mother that she loves dearly, but she and I share our own special relationship, so in many ways, I feel like her mom as well. I feel the same way about my stepdaughter Crystal that I don’t get to see nearly enough who lives in Boston and I am extremely blessed to have my two sons that I love to the ends of the earth and back.

Another Christmas moment from last year – as I mom I was blessed to have my sons, Chris and Joe, along with my stepdaughter, Jackie, share in the occasion.

I am also very blessed to have a mom that inspires me each and every day and on that note, I hope I inspired you to look for the positive in the day and use it as a metaphor to give those that you love in your life a special hug, kiss, hello, or whatever you can to make them feel special. And that goes double for the kitties in your life!

A very special Mother’s Day to the woman I admire so much – my own Mom! This was us last weekend at a Relay For Life fundraising event for the American Cancer Society which means the world to me, because I am grateful to say my Mom is a cancer survivor.

Happy Mother’s Day all!

Continuing on with all the great reviews for Purr Prints of the Heart, in case you missed it, the latest one was from my dear friend, Angie Bailey of Catladyland and the smash writing hits, Texts from Mittens and Whiskerslist. I was especially curious to find out how she would review the book since she is the reigning queen of cat comedy and Purr Prints was written with the intention of helping people with the grieving process after losing a beloved pet.

True to form, while she was deeply touched by the story of Jazz’s life and death journey, she was also able to find the joy and humor in the book, giving her reason to laugh and smile which really makes me happy, because deep down, that’s really what this book is about – celebrating the love we have for our pets. My favorite part of the review was her admitting she read the book as if she was watching a Disney movie. I think that concept is fascinating and now I can’t but help look at my gang as if they are characters in an epic adventure about the daily trials and tribulations of being a cat!

To read her review, please click here.