There's no way one day a year is enough to honor the mothers in our lives. Honoring them 365 days a year might not be enough.
But as Mother's Days go, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Tom Arth's plan to celebrate his mom, Kathleen Lefko, sounded pretty good late Saturday afternoon.
"We'll go to Mass," he said, "then try to find a nice brunch to go to with my wife and kids, then grill some steaks in the evening."
Yes, church and a good meal comprise a predominant theme today, as it should be, for no one is closer to the Lord than our moms, and giving them a meal or two they don't have to cook or clean up after is all most of them ever will want.
"Just clean my house and I'll be happy," Katie Burrows, the interim head coach of the UTC women's basketball team, said with a laugh. "I think that's all I'll ask of my daughters (Jordan and Grace) for when they're older."
UTC men's basketball coach Lamont Paris lost his mother, Kathy Gutierrez, a couple of years ago.
"I had two fantastic parents," he said of his mother and father, who are both deceased. "My mom took a lot of pride in being a mom, and she was really good at it. She was the disciplinarian in our family, but she wore a lot of hats."
Every Mother's Day morning, Paris and his brothers Brian and Marcus would don figurative chef's hats and serve their mother breakfast in bed.
"That was pretty much our standard gift," he said. "We'd bring her toast, cereal, Cream of Wheat - some things that maybe really didn't match. When we got older we might make eggs or something, anything we could cook without burning the house down. It wasn't exactly Cordon Bleu, but she always seemed to like it."
Much like Arth's plans for his mom, Burrows said her day with her mom, Cheryl Galloway, will focus on church and food.
"As a Southern Baptist, a lot of things revolve around food," Burrows noted. "So we'll have lunch with her after church. Not sure where, but as long as she doesn't have to cook, she's happy."
If anyone understands coaches it's Cheryl Galloway, having spent her life married to Joe Galloway, a coach and educator of major proportions for more than four decades at Lookout Valley High School.
"She's very self-sufficient," Burrows said. "She can always fix things. Whenever something's broke and needs fixing, it's always been my mom and not my dad. She's just like my PawPaw (Cheryl's dad) in that way."
But that's not what Burrows, her sister Kristen and brother Keith have most come to admire about her over the years.
"My mom sacrificed a lot for us. She worked full-time at TVA but somehow managed to be there for everything we did," Burrows said. "We love our dad, but my mom's the most selfless person I've ever known. She's always taught us that you're never too busy to help somebody who needs you. She'll help anybody."
Arth recalled not always being the most perfect of students during his high school years in Ohio.
"Everybody needs somebody who believes in them," he said. "And that was one thing that always stood out to me about my mom. I wasn't a perfect child growing up. I got into trouble a couple of times. But she always fought hard for me. And she has a pretty ferocious demeanor at times. I won't say she doesn't forgive, but she doesn't forget."
Nor did she forget to teach him that there was more to life than football.
"She taught me the importance of being a well-rounded person," he said. "She appreciates classical music and art. She introduced to me that and other things."
Asked what gift he might buy her today besides lunch and time, Arth said he wasn't sure. He did recall the gifts that he and his older sister gave her growing up.
"A lot of times it was just a card or a basket of flowers," he said. "But every time she'd break into tears. We tease her for that sometimes. She's just a very emotional person."
Then Arth said a very emotional thing that many of us no doubt will echo today as we celebrate this day with our moms or lament that they are no longer with us to celebrate.
"My mom's the kindest, most caring person I know," he observed. "She's meant everything to me."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com