By now they have headed down the backstretch, and we have wrapped up another Derby Season. Soon we will celebrate Mothers Day, and then Labor Day. May is the kick-off to summer season and just may be my favorite month of the year in Kentucky.

It always amazes me just how big of a holiday Mother's Day really is. It's perhaps the only remaining holiday that's free of political overtones. It is still okay in this country to love our mothers. But in the bigger picture, a mother is just one person, and each of us has one. So why then is Mother's Day so special?

Well for one, our mothers brought us in to the world. As we grow, it is our mothers who by in large shape who we become as adults.

The bond between mother and child is at the core of our evolutionary process, what ever that may be. If we are lucky, that bond is so much more than science, or theology. It is perhaps the closest thing to pure unconditional love that any of us will ever know.

Just in my own life experience I know so many great mothers, I have seen so many sacrifices, so much patience and so much dedication. I am envious sometimes when I think about the transformation that happens when a girl turns into a women, and the woman turns into a mother. The instincts and gifts that nature has given them are incredible to behold. It is fitting then, I think, to take a day each year at the peak of the spring to celebrate mothers everywhere. Nothing too fancy, a day at home with family, perhaps some flowers, and a nice card, but a chance to say, "I love you Mom, thanks for everything you do that makes me the husband, father, son, or daughter that I am today." Put your feet up, Mom

Mark Stevens