Tho, I have not given birth, I have not gotten anyone else pregnant, nor have I legally adopted anyone (not for lack of wanting to). Yet still, I have daughters. My first daughter called me "mom", for a time. I miss that. Perhaps one day it will happen again.
I think most would not consider me a mother. Just a pretender. Sometimes I think they're right. But I know: I care more than the common biological "mother". So many parents come to resent their children, for the "sin" of being born. In turn, their children learn to resent them. And who wouldn't, treated so unfairly?
So I strive to be the mother that they deserve. Loving, caring, gentle. I only hope that is sufficient.
I only hope I am enough