Tomorrow special ladies all across the city, state, nation, world and universe will be put on on pedestal for 24 hours as Mother’s Day is celebrated or at least it should be, everywhere.

Remember the corny Outback Steakhouse jingle that went something like “Nobody loves you like your Mom, Mom. Nobody loves you like your Mom”? Yes, the singer was annoying and in some circles could be considered irritating, because whomever it was definitely couldn’t compete on “American Idol.”

That goes along with a Jewish proverb about mothers that simply states, “God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.” Think about all the times that no one else, but your mother has stood by you as you’ve made some of the biggest mistakes of your life and put everyone close to you through unwarranted and undeserved turmoil. When things were great and you were a huge success, there was a crowd of supporters around you, but when it all went down the drain, only your mother was there.

Mothers are the ones we go to for comfort and whose shoulder we cry on and whose kiss always seemed to make our owies feel better. It wasn’t Dad, because Dad would say something like “Suck it up and drive on” or “That didn’t hurt. Quit crying.”

Dad also didn’t carry us inside him for nine months or gain the pregnancy weight. He didn’t go through the agony of morning sickness or have the cravings for odd things like jalapeno poppers and strawberry-banana milkshakes from Jack In the Box at 2 in the morning. Yes, he may have had to make the drive to get them, but he was just the delivery boy.

Mom is the one who stayed up all night to try to get us to sleep when we couldn’t quit crying and the one who always saw danger before we stumbled and fell. She protected us from ourselves and the outside world as best she could knowing that one day we would leave the nest to fly on our own.

As Washington Irving put it, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

That’s what a mother is, and for lucky men like me, who have not only a wonderful Mom, but an amazing wife, who is the mother of my son, tomorrow is a doubly special day. Those two women have done more for me than anyone else ever or ever will. There’s nothing quite like the love of a wife and the love of a mother. The world is a brighter, happier place even on the darkest days because of that never-ending support.

Being Irish it’s only fitting that this editorial end with an Irish proverb that states the obvious about a wife and of course, a mother. It goes, “A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.”

Happy Mother’s Day to all.