1979: Bought an M&M cookie for me at Target after I chose the wrong cookie from the case and ended up with a Reese’s Pieces cookie, even though she’d warned me that though it looked like an M&M cookie, it wasn’t actually an M&M cookie. I cried out of shame at my hubris.

1983: Didn’t tell Dad on most of the multiple occasions when my third-grade teacher sent notes home saying that I’d been naughty. Typical infraction: tying an unsuspecting kid’s shoelaces together. On the stairs.

1984: Asked me to step into the next room and discreetly informed me that while lounging in my shorts, I’d been accidentally exposing myself to my grandma’s next-door neighbor Annette Perry.

1985: Offered to take me to see the dogs come in at the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. I had no interest in sled dogs, but I was feeling bad and Mom was suggesting everything she could possibly think of to try to cheer me up.

1986: Let me drop out of Cub Scout day camp, which I detested, after only one day even though she and my dad had paid for the whole week.

1989: Drove me all over St. Paul on Oscar night, trying to find a copy of USA Today since it had a special pull-out Oscar section.

1989-1993: Repeatedly walked to work so that I could drive the family van to school and give the golf team rides to practice.

1999: Helped me to make papier-mâché planets for my preschool Astronuts class to paint.

2002: Went to the midnight screening of Star Wars Episode II with me, because no one else wanted to.

2011: Taped a TV show I had a freelance assignment to write about, so I could go out partying instead of staying home to watch it. She taped it on two VCRs, in case one didn’t work.

– Jay Gabler (standing at middle in photo), in honor of Mom Day at The Tangential