Now that you have your own kids, you understand what a nightmare you were during your "I will only eat chicken nuggets" phase. You remember sneakily feeding pieces of your dinner to the dog so that you mom would think you ate the required number of bites before you could be excused. Only now, after spending a week cleaning your dachshund's table-food-induced diarrhea, do you realize how much more work you created for your mom.

Your mom could tell when you didn't feel like playing with the neighbor kid, or you were still too scared to sleep over at your friend's house. She always took the fall, making it seem like she was the one saying "No." She always had your back, even when you didn't realize it.

Your mom always made you feel better by telling you that mean girls would probably never amount to anything. She said that the happiest and most successful people were those who were kind, caring, and always included others. You are reminded of how right she was every time you open Facebook.

Remember that time your fifth-grade teacher, who only called on you when you when she thought you didn't know the answer, assigned you a book report over winter break on The House of Seven Gables even though the rest of your classmates were assigned books like Hatchet and Island of the Blue Dolphins? Remember how your mom marched down to that fifth-grade teacher and gave her a piece of her mind in the middle of the school parking lot, in front of the principal and the rest of the school? Remember how that teacher never embarrassed you or picked on you again? Yeah, your mom did that.

As a mom, you can almost always tell when your kid is lying to you. Even if you never find out, it hurts you to think that your child would be dishonest. What if they lie about where they are going or who they are with and something happens to them? Today, you have the comfort of knowing that by clicking on an app you can find out where your child is in a matter of seconds. Doesn't it make you ashamed of the times you told your mom you were going to the movies with friends, but instead went parking with your high school boyfriend?

When you were sobbing into your pillow after breaking up with your first boyfriend, your mom said, "This will hurt, but not forever. One day you will look back on this fondly and be grateful for the lessons this heartbreak has taught you." She wasn't wrong.

Every time you wait in the school's pick up line, sit at dance practice, drive across the state for a competition, or stay up late to pick your child up from a party you remember all the times your mom did that for you. She could have been having drinks with a friend, or gone a date night with your dad, but instead she was there to make sure you got to take advantage of all of the things you wanted to do.

When you were a kid, you didn't know why your mom worried so much about her weight, her wrinkles, or keeping her hair free of grays. You always wondered why someone in her 30s or 40s would even care what she looked like anymore. Well, now you know.

Your mom knows so much, but what she knows best is that you have to make your own decision for your kids, even if they differ from the way she did things. She will take a back seat, give advice when asked, and be there for you every step of the way. But she won't take over, do things behind your back, or go against your wishes, and for that, she deserves the biggest "thank you" of all.