So many things about who I am have been cultivated by the women in my life. I'm ridiculously lucky to have had the chance to grow up knowing and loving them all. From my own mother to aunts and all the way to my great grandmother, who passed some years ago.

I'd like to think I follow in their footsteps, collecting each of their similar traits. We're all worriers and maybe a little neurotic. None of us have a green thumb or a penchant for cooking dinner. But we are also loving, hard working, independent and strong when we need to be.

So many of these traits are learned, taught and handed down. I've been so lucky to have grown up with not only a wonderful mother as an example, but my grandmother's example of love as well.

While she's now a great grandmother and grandmother - she's also still a mother. She has the same wishes for her own children that every mother everywhere has. She's still there as a mother to my parents, even when it's hard. Just like my mom is for me.

Because from what I've gathered, you don't stop being a mom when your kids have kids.

Recently my family celebrated my grandmother's 80th birthday, so naturally my camera was at the ready. I took a few minutes to just capture a portrait of her alone. Looking at it now, I see more than just her likeness. I see the matriarch of the family, supportive and strong for us all. I see love, warmth, happiness, family, history.

I see all the other moms of the family in her.

I see me.

Hugs, love, and a Happy (Belated) Mother's Day to you all (especially to my own Momma),

Erin