This week, Americans celebrate three important segments of our population.

Throughout the week, we have celebrated educators because of Teacher Appreciation Week, and nurses during National Nurse’s Week. This Sunday, we celebrate mothers for Mother’s Day.

In my opinion, all moms — no matter their profession — fit into all three of these sectors.

Good mothers (like my own mom), good teachers (like my twin sister) and good nurses all have several qualities in common. They all put another’s well-being before their own. They willingly make sacrifices every day in order to better others. Moms, educators and nurses are all problem solvers who think creatively to make others’ lives better.

As we celebrate the men and women who earn their paychecks taking care of the sick and educating our youth, we can also celebrate the first teachers and nurses in our life.

Stevie Wonder once said, “Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness.”

George Washington shared similar sentiments: “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”

I can say the same about my own mother. In the literal sense of “teacher,” I recall memories of her teaching myself and my siblings how to read and do multiplication tables. Perhaps more importantly, however, my mother has also taught life lessons, like how kindness always wins, and how passion and hard work carry you farther than any degree or skill level.

I am not yet a mother myself, but my experience tells me these are traits most mothers are given the minute they give birth. Mothers literally give us life, and then are responsible for not only keeping us alive, but ensuring that we become good people.

In this way, mothers are very much nurses — caregivers who hold us when we are sad and take care of us when we are sick. I have countless memories of my mom bandaging scraped knees and making homemade chicken noodle soup when I had the flu (at 28 years old, it still does the trick!).

I feel incredibly fortunate to have selfless individuals so passionate about caring for the sick and educating the next generation that they make these professions their livelihood.

I feel extra fortunate to have a mother who contains qualities of both of these professions, who has always given me the tools I need to succeed and be healthy, or found a way to get them for me if she could not.

This week, I hope you have taken the chance to thank a teacher who has educated you, a nurse who has taken care of you, and a mother who has loved you unconditionally.