My mom is the ultimate Earth Mom, because of everything she does and is...

Some moms have a certain perfume they always wear, or maybe something they cook that makes their house smell great, and that is how you think of them. But to me my mom smells like sunlight, like fresh mowed grass, and like the beach.

Thanks to my mom, all of my fondest memories of childhood have to do with the outdoors and loving the earth. Age 5, lazy summer days outside, running through the sprinkler, and plucking luscious cherries from our little backyard tree. Age 10, evening walks to play at the local park, discussing nature and life and everything inbetween, then picking raspberries from our garden to put on our ice cream for dessert. Age 15, sunbathing by the river together with our latest favorite books, laughing and diving in the ice cold water for a few moments of shocking refreshment.

She loves plants and gardening and has always grown her own fruits and veggies, plus gorgeous flowers. When I was a kid it was the raspberries and artichokes, sunflowers and cherries. Now she has blueberries, strawberries and rhubarb, rhododendrons and irises and overflowing cherry blossom trees, and many others that I can't even name.

Now at 25, when I pick up my 3-year-old son from "Grammie's" house, it is not surprising to find him with blueberry-stained lips and cheeks, dirty from head to toe from adventures in the yard, and the biggest grin imaginable. And I am happy and proud and thankful, that my son will grow up knowing such an amazing woman, that he will grow up with the love of the Earth that my mom has, that I was raised to have, that everyone should have.