All moms teach by example. On this Mothers Day, I feel fortunate that mine taught by setting good ones.

Giving by nature, she also knew where to draw the line. She did not, for example, buy whole chickens unless she was planning to cook the chicken whole.

“It’s cheaper to cut them up yourself,” she told me. “But once you go down that road, spending a lot of time to save a little, it’s hard to turn back.”

Somehow, the remark became a powerful lesson in honoring my time and honoring me.

Half a century later, I have no idea about the relative costs or whole and cut-up chickens. But I would no more buy a whole chicken and cut it up than I would drive 90 MPH in a 65 MPH zone.

Likewise, her instruction to “keep your robe on” when you’re sick stuck with me because, as she pointed out, “otherwise, people will expect you to be back, giving 100 percent.”

She was not a paid consultant on the work-life balance puzzle. But she might as well have been.

Thanks, mom.