The family station wagon headed home for what was probably the umpteenth time that day for a car belonging to the mother of five children. Mom and I were alone, and for some long-forgotten reason, I was upset.

I'm not certain how old I was. Fourteen? Fifteen? What I do know is that I began telling Mom about some perceived injustice I had suffered in my day, expecting her to pour streams of sympathy on the wounded emotions of her little girl.

As we passed the slender, tall palm trees in the median lined up like graceful dancers on a stage, mom surprised me with the firmly spoken words, "Becks, you've got to learn to roll with the punches."

I don't remember anything else about the ride home that day or our conversation, except for two things: For a brief moment I was taken aback by her lack of sympathy, and then almost immediately, her advice struck a chord deep within my impressionable young mind. "Becks, you've got to learn to roll with the punches." I can still see her resolute profile as she stared straight ahead and became more like a boxing coach than the Southern Belle I knew so well.

Like I so often did, I adapted mom's advice for the "punches" life doles out on all of us, and I've been rolling ever since.

As regular readers of my column know, my mom died last year. This is my first Mother's Day without her. But the advice Mom gave me will last forever. As I continue to apply her many words of wisdom to my own life, I also look for opportunities to pass them on to my own children.

Mom was at once both immensely loving and full of great expectations for her children. We always knew her arms and heart were open to us, but we also knew that whining would get us nowhere with this incredibly optimistic woman.

My sister and I have often referred to Mom as the original "can-do" woman. No challenge was too big, no problem insurmountable for her. She was generous, kind to everyone she met, had a marvelous sense of humor and smiled for the sake of others even when she didn't feel like it. Mom faced life filled with endless enthusiasm, high energy and a resolve to accomplish her goals with excellence. And she expected her children to approach the world that way too. Continued...