In honor of Mother's Day, I sat down with my mom Jane to talk about what it was like to raise me and my siblings. Growing up poor in Appalachia, my mother showed us through her actions how important family and education were. As the wife of a career police officer, my mother was able to get her master's degree while raising three children and caring for her elderly mother. She hustled working multiple jobs for many years to put food on the table, and she still made time to make homemade baby food, hand sew costumes, outfits and cabbage patch kids, and generally be the best mother ever. Oh, and then there was that one time she had a baby in the front yard. Happy Mother's Day to my fierce, resilient, compassionate, giving mother Jane.