At the American Cancer Society, we like to think of Mother’s Day as a birthday too, because it’s a day to celebrate another year with the women who have touched our lives in so many ways. When we fight for less cancer and more birthdays, we also fight for more Mother’s Days. Another year with our mothers, and another year as mothers.
In reflecting on this sentiment, we asked the members of our Blogger Advisory Council (BAC) to share their most memorable Mother’s Day stories with us. Their words are thoughtful, heart-warming and heart-breaking. Truthful emotions conjured up from memories that will never be forgotten.
Karen Zgoda, a doctoral student at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, shared a childhood memory of Mother’s Day that still leaves her feeling “warm and fuzzy.”
“Growing up with a single mother, Mother’s Day was very special. As a little girl it was a time to just hang out with my mom, have fun, and try to make her feel nice. My favorite was when we went to the local McDonald’s that had an amazing playground I would enjoy for hours. For Mother’s Day, they always served a special pancake breakfast so moms could hang out there with their kids. I just loved spending that time together with her there!”
Darryle Pollack, a writer, TV journalist, artist, cancer survivor and mother, wrote an incredibly moving blog post about why Mother’s Day matters to her and how it started to matter before she even had children.
“I was a freshman at Cornell. One day that spring my father called my dorm out of the blue to arrange a Mother’s Day surprise for my mom. She had just gone into the hospital for a back problem – and he wanted me to fly home and surprise her, just for the day…”
Read all of Darryle’s Mother’s Day post here.
Jim Lin, a marketing professional who blogs about life as a dad shared some beautiful memories of his mother’s love, captured in the everyday moments of life.
“I grew up in an environment that incinerated my self-confidence on a daily basis. I won’t go into details, but let’s just set the stage a bit: only Asian kid in a working-class east coast suburb in the mid-eighties. Unfortunately, when confidence ebbs, self-doubt and loathing quickly move in to fill the void. But a mother’s love can too. When I was sure being Chinese was a license to be ridiculed, she’d speak to me in Chinese in public. And nobody laughed. When I was too chubby for the cool army pants I just bought, she’d cut a piece from the hem and expand the waistline a little bit. And nobody noticed. And when I was all grown up and graduated from college, but too overwhelmed to pack up my apartment to move to California, she showed up with packing tape, and a snack. My mom has made every birthday of mine another year to reflect on what her unconditional love has meant to me. And I wish her more birthdays ad infinitum, so that she can enjoy the love that her grandkids, grown-up kids and extended family give back to her every day.”
Do you have a memory of Mother’s Day that has always stuck with you? Share your story in the comments below.
