mother: n. A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).

My little resident female hummingbird greeted me as I opened the blinds. She perched first on the clothesline, then swooped in to begin her morning with a bath in my fountain. I knew her gender because she is a “plain Jane,” without color, a trait of that particular species of bird. Whereas the male’s head is almost luminescent, rich with colors green and red, the female’s muted plumage allows them to blend into their surroundings. They are the ones in the relationship who build the nests and feed the chicks without help from the males. The females must become almost invisible in order to provide protection from predators and mother their little ones to adulthood.

That’s how it is with us humans, I thought. Mothers are often the least flashy, with baby spit-up on their clothes or dressed in sweats with no make-up as they run from one errand to another–before nap time. And yet their role is critically important in creating, nurturing, and developing our future generations.