This Mother's Day, let's really celebrate our mothers and help a child — this is what any mother would do.

Washington Irving wrote: "A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives and wives their husbands. But, a mother's love endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world's condemnation. A mother still loves on, and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil ways and repent, still she remembers the infant smile that once filled her bosom with rapture, the merry laugh, the joyful shout of his childhood, the opening promise of his youth, and she can never be brought to think him all unworthy."

Irving's passage reminds us about the real meaning of the day. We will attempt on Sunday to pay homage to mothers with many gifts and gestures of love to show they are appreciated.

Mothers have a most precious charge and that is to offer love to their families. I have not met one of them that prefers otherwise. Mothers strive to rise above all adversity, hoping and dreaming that their children will be fine no matter what.

It is said that the best mothers invest themselves in their families.

My own mother did just that until she died in 1997.

I still remember, from growing up in a time when our family was so dysfunctional, the high standard and the higher expectations mother tried to set for her children because she believed they would spread it across the generations. I have been able to keep my mother's memories and her influence alive throughout my life and I am sure my siblings are doing the same. Our mother was a wonderful mother.

Good mothers are special and so important to our families, even to the society in which we live. I am sure that the best part of Mothers Day is the valuable time they spend with their families.

Sunday, as each of us calls or visits our mother — or pauses to hold close her dear memory — we can savor her loyal love and the warm, caring smiles and hugs which made her so proud to be a mother. We can remember the selfless love mothers give their children and there is a shared hope of each mother, that this selfless love is passed on from them to anyone and anything the child comes into relationship with.

We have an obligation and a responsibility to share the immense love we receive from our mothers. Thank God for all of them.

Longview resident Herb Spady is a regular contributor to the Saturday Forum.