I am not the biggest hockey fan in the world, count the Tigers and Michigan State sports above the Detroit Red Wings in the list of my favorite teams, but I remember the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs clear as day.

My mom, a native Detroiter, made every game an event that early summer, but most memorably was the Stanley Cup she made and placed on a bench in front of her house. Made out of bowls and pots and covered aluminum foil, I swear it looked like the you had to carry it with the white gloves.

The wings won the Stanley Cup that year, for the first time in my Mom’s life, and I remember picking up that makeshift trophy and running around the yard like had just finished playing along side Darren McCarty and Vladimir Konstantinov.

The Wings lost in game 7 last night, knocked out of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it reminded me about that early summer in 1997 and about my Mom, and frankly that Mother’s Day is around the corner. I thought about the city of Detroit and how funny it was that I lived here, the place where my mom grew up and the place where she hasn’t seen much since the 70’s.

I am very much a product of my mother. My mom, one of 11 children born to blue collar parents on the Northwest side of Detroit, loves people. Nothing gives her more joy in life that helping others. She always taught he to put others first, and it’s something I try to strive for every day. She taught me that hard work pays off, and that if you try your best everything will work out.

I remember staying up late studying in High School and having her quiz me for tests I had the next day, sometimes doing it at 2 in the morning. I remember her long life talks that she would give me when something in my life wasn’t right. I remember how proud she was of me graduating high school and then college, a feat that during middle school may have seemed dim.

With out her encouragement and faith in me, I wouldn’t have made it in to MSU and graduated with two degrees. Without her showing what service meant I probably wouldn’t have done a program like City Year or Challenge Detroit , both programs she wishes were around when she was my age.

While I probably don’t call her enough, or visit her enough (she’ll say), I am very grateful to have had a mother like her, and am grateful to be back in Michigan to celebrate Mother’s day with her, where she’ll get to watch her second son graduate from MSU. A feat that was very much because of her.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!