I’ve been missing Mom more than usual lately, not just because it’s Mother’s Day but also because of what I’m reading and thinking, because there is so much to tell her, and most of all because not just one but two of my daughters are soon to be mothers.

It’s a joy and a privilege to watch your child become a parent. It’s role-bending and life-affirming. It’s an excellent counterbalance to a worldwide pandemic. And it’s the sort of experience that makes me wish my parents were still here to share it with (putting aside for the moment that I would be worried sick about them if they were).

So today I will just have to share it virtually, as we do so much these days; share it by saying here how thankful I am to be not just a mother, but a mother of daughters — and of daughters becoming mothers.