With May comes the celebration of Mother's Day, when we recognize and remember our mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, aunts and other women who have positively impacted our lives.

Mothers especially should be honored for the love they show to us and the life lessons they teach us. Words of wisdom offered by our mothers frequently stay with us for the rest of our lives. I still remember my mom saying, "If you have to sneak around to do something, you should not be doing it!"

Who doesn't remember those tried-and-true phrases when thinking about their moms? "Wait until your father gets home," "Don't make me come in there" and "Because I said so." When faced with horrifying vegetables, such as lima beans, moms use guilt to get us to eat them, saying, "How can you refuse to eat? There are starving children in other countries."

My mom taught me many lessons about respecting nature and all of God's creatures, about faith and religion and about always doing the right thing no matter how difficult. That probably explains that when an errant can of tuna lodged itself in the bottom of my shopping cart a few weeks ago in an unintentional "shoplifting" incident, I took it back into the store and paid for it.

I asked some friends to share memories of their mothers and grandmothers. The replies were so numerous that I had to narrow them down to a few.

One friend wrote, "I remember spending most of my childhood in my nanny's house, and she had an old Bose player/radio on one of the windowsills in the kitchen. It was surrounded by CDs from Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand and the Bee Gees. My sister and I favored Celine Dion and would always scream/sing to reach those high notes."

Another memory shared by a friend: "My mom used to get very frustrated when we could not find something, and she said we weren't looking hard enough. Her go-to line was 'Nobody broke into the house and stole it.' My brother, sisters and I used to joke about how my mom could be scolding us and when the phone would ring, she would pick up the phone and say 'Hello' in the sweetest, most southern voice. (She was from Virginia.) Then she would hang up and go right back to scolding us."

And finally, "I lived with my nana in college. One Easter, my fiance, now my husband, gave me a stuffed yellow duck in a hat and tie. I left it on my bed. I would come home from class or work, and the duck was missing. I would find him on the buffet in the dining room, at the top of the plant stand and, one time, he built a nest of scarves in the coat tree. My grandmother would always act like the duck actually did these things, and I knew she was getting a kick out of watching me hunt him, even though I was college age."

So, if you are lucky enough to still have your mother, stepmother or grandmother with you, be sure and remember her this Mother's Day with a gift, a call or a card. For those of us who have lost our mothers and miss them every day, always remember their love and learn from their wisdom. And, if you have an errant can of tuna stuck in your shopping cart, please take it back into the store and pay for it.