About the Author

Mother’s Day 2009 - by Duane Scott

It’s always been said that "a child needs a mother." Fortunately in most cases that happens quite automatically. Turns out it’s difficult to have one without the other, the latter bearing the brunt of the responsibility for a long, long time. Turns out though, unfortunately that in some cases motherhood really never goes very far beyond birth. This is a tragedy when this happens because if a child doesn’t have mom in their corner, life is going to be much harder to take on. When I met Amy when I was 18 and she was 15 (I know)…… I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking but it definitely wasn’t “Boy, I’ll bet she’d be a great mother!” Nope. I lucked out there in a very big way, and so did my three beautiful girls. She’s a planner. Starting with conception; seriously…..the decision was always made so that she could spend the maximum time with her new baby before going back to her classroom – another noble responsibility (don’t get me started). With the second and third this was complicated by how making the best decision for the newborn would effect the other(s). I have a feeling that the smallest, most mundane daily decisions are checked against what's best for the girls…..and all options are carefully weighed and a decision is made and carried out. The heart breaking part is that she doesn’t know it. She’s constantly second guessing her self, sometimes wondering if she’s a good mother at all. Then she devises a plan to remove any doubt and carries that out. Don’t get me wrong, I have input, but I don’t think my girls would suffer if I didn’t. As many people have recently, we have begun to study politics, and I can’t help but think that if our leaders approached government and caring for those they serve, putting them first, the way Amy does motherhood and our children, we would be far better off. So it goes that the most effective example that our kids see is the one that we set in raising them. I can only hope that one day these girls will realize what has been done for them. It’s not realistic for them to understand it now, but if they some how get a sense of what is good judgment in raising our grand children, I know a great deal of it will have come from their mother.

Duane Scott is the husband of Amy Scott and spends his days in awe of what she is capable of.