It's that time of year again. Social media is flooded with "Share this if you love your mom," Facebook statuses and perfectly constructed Instagrams of family photos captioned "Love you, Mom." You can't leave the supermarket without smelling like a bouquet of tulips and roses, as everyone is picking up a surprise for their mom. Elementary school afternoon pick-up lines are flooded with antsy children, excited to present their latest art class creations and acrostic poems to their beaming mothers. It's a beautiful sight to see, Mother's Day. Everyone is so glad to be celebrating the most important women in their lives. However, I celebrate something a little different on Mother's Day.

Every Mother's Day, I celebrate my best and worst memories. I remember my beautiful mother, whom I miss every day. yet, at the same time, I remember how difficult it is to go on without her while everyone else is spending the day making their moms happy. My social media captions don't say, "Have a great day, Mom," but instead, "Miss you, Mom." I pick up colorful flowers to lay on the ground, rather than on the kitchen counter along with a card. In elementary school, I addressed my crafts to my aunts instead of a mom like everyone else did.

You'd think that a day like today would make me miserable. I'm supposed to feel sad and left out, aren't I? I will admit that this time of year is extremely somber for me. There are times that I just get so incredibly jealous because it seems like everyone gets to celebrate Mother's Day except me. That's not the case, though. Of course, the first few Mother's Days without my mom were really hard. I wanted to lock myself in my room and not come out till the day was over. After a few years, though, Mother's Day felt good.

When you lose someone as close to you as your mother, you need to talk about it in order to cope. The problem is that it is really easy to feel guilty when you talk about such a big loss. You probably feel like no one wants to hear what you have to say. Thankfully, Mother's Day is the perfect excuse to express how you feel and to talk about your mom as much as you want. You don't have to worry about bringing it up at a bad or awkward time, and you don't have to worry about people thinking you're just bringing her up for attention. People realize that it's probably a hard day for you so they let you talk.

You can finally feel however you want. I think the hardest part about losing your mom is that people expect you to be fine. After a couple months, you're supposed to return to society good as new. News flash- that doesn't happen. I think everyone who has lost their mom could agree that sometimes it feels like she just passed away yesterday and we wish we could cry all day long, but no one really understands that. On this particular day, however, we can laugh and cry and smile and reminisce as much as we want without being judged.

The bottom line is that Mother's Day is a really important day for those of us that have lost our mothers. It's a day of reflection and emotional cleansing that we so desperately need. After losing your mom, there will always be the three hardest days of each year: mother's day, her birthday, and the anniversary of her death. Use these days to think about your mom as much as you need to without worrying what other people will think. We are strong every single day, we deserve a few days off!