Mr. Speaker, one March when she was a child, my mother's elementary school teacher gave out paper lambs and lions to colour to celebrate the “in like a lamb and out like a lion" adage. The boys were given lions and the girls lambs. However, my mother told her teacher that she wanted a lion. She was told to behave. Never one to be deterred, she got her lion.
A few weeks ago, I caught a reflection in a window that stopped me in my tracks. The reflection of my 37-year-old self was that of a woman I saw when I was 13, that of my mother. While we are indeed her spit and image, my sister and I often pause to be grateful for her less superficial qualities that she strives to have reflected in us: fearlessness, ferocity, selflessness, and a moral compass set on justice, the heart of a lioness.
On the occasion of my mother entering her seventh decade, we have deep gratitude for her love and for living her life and redefining an adage. She came in like a lion, and we do not see any change in the forecast. I wish Mama a happy 60th birthday.