Honorable Mention

Marguerita Hunter
Baton Rouge, LA

My special story is about the day that my mother and I apologized to each other for all of the silly disagreements that we'd had in the past.

My parents had come to Baton Rouge to visit my sister and me. My mother and I had always had a turbulent relationship, ever since I gave birth to my first child at the age of 19. We weren't able to see eye to eye on much, and eventually I became distant from her. I felt as if I didn't even have a mother.

Well, on this visit, my parents stayed with my sister. My mother and I were left alone in the kitchen while the rest of the family went out to pick up her dog, Aladdin.

Over a sink of blue crabs, we were able to talk and hash out our feelings about each other, including discussions of all of the past disappointments that had been felt by both of us.

Gradually, that day, over tears and crabs, we renewed a feeling of friendship and love. Ever since, we have remembered how close we almost came to being "crabs in a bucket."

Honorable Mention

Alice Geismar
New York, NY

My most vivid memories of my mom always involved her sewing or knitting or crocheting. I can see her sitting on her knees in front of me with a mouthful of pins trying to fit a dress or skirt or redo a hem. The fabric was always a remnant or special bargain she had found. She always hoped that she might get a smile or some sign of approval from me. But I wore my perpetual scowl of annoyance.

Her pin-stuffed mouth made her speech garbled and kind of comical. I remember always flinching since I would invariably get pinched by her fingers or jabbed by one of her straight pins.

The most memorable and meaningful moment for me, however, was much later—when I had graduated to mostly store-bought clothes.

Mom had pretty much ceased to be a central figure in my life during my teenage years. I had graduated to friends and boyfriends. She accepted the backstage role well and didn't intervene much. When I wanted to go to college a year early, she supported and accepted that decision. And when I was married and pregnant after my first year of college, she accepted that, too. What she didn't accept, though, was my not going back to complete my education.

So one day she made an appointment with the college dean to see about my return to classes. My mother hardly ever drove her car, but she drove to our meeting that day. I don't remember saying a word.

It was odd to see my mom resuming a role she hadn't played in so many years. And looking back now, I realize that this was one of the last times that I really did need her.

I was always grateful to my mother for taking charge and making sure that I went back to school. I'm sure I never shared with her how I felt. I'm pretty sure she knew.

Honorable Mention

Carol Edwards
New York, NY

I was born on Mother's Day, and this year again, my birthday falls on that special holiday. It was a bond my mother and I always shared.

To this day, in my mind's eye, that moment on a train remains indelible in my memory. I can still see my sleep-warmed six-year-old face waking and being nestled snug against her smooth, cool arm as she gazed silently out the window.

I never heard the sound of train wheels speeding hot and steadily on steel tracks, as they carried us back home from Cleveland to Warren, Ohio. Instead, I just saw her face. It was lit from within, her thoughts a million miles away, intent on some unknown destination that at the time, seemed quite familiar to her.

In that moment, I found that "magic" was my proximity to her. How I marveled at the notion that mere touch could transport me to her "place." It was a place that seemed at the time serene, secure, and filled with love—a place that all my waking days, for all my life, I would want to return to, time and time again.

Honorable Mention

Katina Lebo
Urbana, OH

My mother had always been terrified of flying. When I was pregnant with my first child, however, she decided that she was going to conquer that fear. So she made airline reservations to fly from Ohio to North Carolina two days before my due date.

As it turned out, I went into labor five days early. She really wanted to come and see my first child born, so she called the airline and paid $56 extra to get her flight changed. For the first leg of the trip, she flew from Ohio to Virginia in a large plane, and said the flight was not as bad as she had thought it would be.

Then, when she saw the plane that was going to take her to Fayetteville, North Carolina, she said she almost cried. It was a ten-seater that she said was so tiny that it could have fit in our basement.

One of the other passengers held her hand for the entire trip and tried to keep her calm; the passenger kept my mom focused and talking about being there for the birth of her grandchild.

As it turned out, she arrived 32 minutes after my daughter, Kaitlyn, was born. She was thrilled to be able to see her newborn granddaughter. However, after that trip, she said she would never fly again.

BEGINNING

Go to Page 1 of 2