I always loved my mom . . . even when I "hated" her during those fleeting teenage dramatic moments. But, almost nothing can make a child appreciate their parents more than becoming one themselves. Author Kelly Corrigan details balancing her life as a mom, wife, and daughter in her story, The Middle Place. She aptly starts one chapter:

It is one thing to be a man's wife — quite another to be the mother of his children. In fact, once you become a mother, being a wife seems like a game you once played or a self-help book you were overly impressed with as a teenager that on second reading is puffy with common ideas. This was one of many things I had learned since crossing over into the middle place — that sliver of time when childhood and parenthood overlap. One day you're cheering your daughter through a swimming lesson or giving her a pat for crossing the monkey bars or reminding her to say "please," and the next, you're bragging to your parents about your newest trick — a sweet potato recipe, a raise at work, a fix for your ant problem. It's a giant Vin diagram where you are the only member of both sets.

A perfect metaphor for my own familial relationships, I am certain Corrigan speaks the truth for many moms the world over. Perhaps we all share that inner space of the circular graph.