This is my 100th blog post, and it feels fitting that it’s about something as layered and emotional as Mother’s Day—especially through the lens of a cancer survivor.

Mother’s Day can feel… complicated.

Maybe it always has. But after cancer, it often feels different in ways that are hard to explain.

Whether you're a mom or not, this day can stir up things you didn’t expect. Tender things. Raw things. And sometimes, confusing things that don’t fit neatly into a greeting card. Sometimes it just hits differently when you've faced a life-altering diagnosis.

If you're a mom, a cancer diagnosis may make you hyper-aware of each moment you have with your kids. For some, there’s a bittersweetness to every hug, every handmade card. You're grateful—and also terrified that it could be the last. All moms worry about their kids—but moms who’ve had cancer often feel it in a deeper, more urgent way.

And if your kids (or partner) don’t meet the expectations you had for the day, the disappointment can feel sharper than it ever did before cancer.

If you're not a mom, Mother’s Day can bring up a whole different set of emotions. Maybe you dreamed of being a mother, but it didn’t happen. Maybe it’s about your relationship with your own mother. Maybe it's about how your cancer changed that relationship. Or about your feelings around what it might mean for her to face your diagnosis—on top of what it means for you to face it. Did she know how to show up for you? Did your diagnosis bring you closer together, or further apart? There’s no one right way to navigate that—and if it feels messy, you’re not alone.

Either way, Mother’s Day can feel like an emotional landmine. Even more so now, after cancer.

Cancer shifts how we see all of it—our roles, our relationships, and our rituals. And those once-a-year days like Mother’s Day, anniversaries, and birthdays highlight this with elevated expectations and emotions.

So if you’re feeling out of sync this Mother’s Day… you’re not wrong. You’re just changed.

You’ve been through something that makes you see life in sharper focus. And while that can bring gratitude, it can also bring grief, reflection, and everything in between.

You’ve already done the hardest things. You’ve faced mortality and kept going. That alone makes you worthy of being celebrated.

Not just today. But every damn day.

Whatever this day means to you—whatever it stirs up—it’s okay. You don’t have to explain it. You don’t have to fix it. Just feel whatever you feel.

And if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.

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