I’m a day late on wishing my wife, my mother, my mom-in-law and all the other terrific moms out there a happy Mother’s Day. I need you to understand that I am wonderfully blessed to have mixed genes with my wife. She is a great mother.

My daughter is clever, kind, generous, funny, silly, brave and curious. She uses big words like “activate” and “chrysalis”. She makes up stories with more complex plot arcs and character development than most anything I’ve ever written. She has command of emotional vocabulary to describe her feelings, which are many and complicated. She comforts people who are hurt. She asks awkward questions of complete strangers. She cries sometimes when she is not well understood. She is stubborn, independent and full of ideas.

All of the good things my daughter is come from Michelle. Our daughter is an only child, so Michelle made the difficult choice to quit work and stay at home. Financially and emotionally, this has been a huge sacrifice. But I can see the benefits of the time they spend together – learning, playing and talking.

Michelle has a gift for explaining the world in a way that is honest, simple and direct. She doesn’t skirt the difficult issues like death and loss. She makes our daughter brave and confident with a belief in herself and an understanding that every action is a choice. We are never powerless. We always have choices. How we feel is a choice. How we react is a choice.

I don’t say it well enough. I certainly don’t say it often enough. My wife is a terrific mother, and I am grateful to be working at her side.