My mom has been a huge sports fan for as long as I can remember.

When I spent a majority of my time at her house following my parents’ divorce, she made sure to nurture all the sports-related extracurricular activities I was involved in by dropping me off at Little League baseball and throwing the football with me in the backyard.

She loved the Saints, so I loved the Saints. She loved the Red Sox, so I loved the Red Sox.

I remember a few years back she was the first person I called after leaving work on the Thursday of the NFL draft, because I wanted to get her take on the Saints before the first round began.

She wasn’t home so leaving a message had to suffice.

When she called back, she told me she was stuck in an employee meeting and kept telling her coworkers she needed to go because she knew her son would be calling to talk about the draft.

What’s funny is we never planned to have a discussion that Thursday evening about the Saints or the draft, but we both seemed to set our day’s schedule by it.

I texted her updates throughout the evening on the picks and made sure she knew when it was time for her to start watching draft coverage, either on ESPN or the NFL Network.

Although I did not talk to anyone on the phone during the draft, I did keep up three relatively lengthy text exchanges during the picks.

I received 11 texts from my friend Sean in Indiana, 30 texts from my dad and seven from my mom. However, mom was the only one who I needed to have a pre-draft strategy session with.

Her draft interest and overall love of sports are a few of the many things I feel are special about my mom. With Mother’s Day approaching tomorrow, it’s important to share these observations with her. We should all do so with the many great mothers is our lives.

Tomorrow’s Mother’s Day celebration carries extra meaning because it doubles as my daughter’s 6th birthday.

As I reflect on my relationship with my mom, it warms my heart to see the connection my wife and daughter are developing. I’m jealous of the time they spend together, if only because their connection seems so rich and genuine.

Mallory, my daughter, just completed her third year of dance classes, and her recent recital provided the perfect platform to show all she had learned.

What Mallory doesn’t realize is the sacrifices her mom made each week to get her to practice, take care of her uniforms and provide the time needed so she could dance.

It’s a sacrifice mothers across the nation perform each day.

My mom certainly did it for me, and now I have a front row seat as my wife gives everything she can for our little daughter’s happiness.

Good mothers provide more heart and strength than is conceivably possible. Yet, they do it because it comes naturally.

I was blessed with a great mother, a grandmother who welcomed me into her home to live for two years while I was in high school and, now, a wonderful wife, who, in my humble opinion, is best mother I’ve ever seen.

To all the mothers and grandmothers of the River Parishes, I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day this weekend.

Stephen Hemelt is publisher and editor of L’OBSERVATEUR. He can be reached at 985-652-9545  or stephen.hemelt@lobservateur.com.