My mother wasn’t perfect and on some level I do love her. But the first memory that popped into my head when I read this thread title was the time she grabbed my hair and slammed my head into a wall. I know there were good memories, but they are clouded.

Anonymous wrote:
Senior year of high school. A long-distance friend in another state, a guy, asks me to come there and be his date for prom.

My mom, always up for a road trip, says sure, and we head to his town several hours away. She thinks it's cool and kind of hilarious that we're "crossing state lines for purposes of transporting a prom date."

As I'm leaving our hotel room in my prom dress, to go meet him in the lobby, I turn and ask her--being a Very Good Girl as a teen, and aware that we're in a town we don't know and she might worry a bit -- "What time do you want me back here by?"

She looked at me with that wry way she had and replied, "I've never set a curfew for you before this, and I'm not gonna start now. Go have a good time."

That was Mama. She trusted me, knew how to appreciate little things like a prom or a simple road trip, she was funny, she was loving, she was sometimes (I now realize) depressed and sometimes salty but always, always on my side. And she never did set a curfew for me, or judge any guy I ever dated, or any friend I ever had. Her trust made me want to be worthy of her trust in me. Miss her every day.

I get a little weepy reading stories like this. This is the type of mom I wish I had, and the kind of mom I aspire to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She loved me. I miss her everyday. Seeing Mother’s Day cards makes me sad. I just want to buy one for her. She loved cards and waited for the mailman every day.

I am happy for those who have loving mothers. Seeing emotional Mother’s day cards about how meaningful their relationship is, only makes me tear up knowing that I don’t have that with my Mom. At most, I get a funny card because the emotional ones with words of love just don’t apply.

Same. But I still miss her, however complicated she was. My mom practiced "splitting" between my and a sibling, so it was quite tricky, but motivated me to be my best version of me, instead of what I was pigeonholed to be (which, if came to fruition, would be soul sucking). She was close to my kids, and was so proud of them. The splitting eventually came to an end, as mom aged, so that was gratifying. I miss her often.

Anonymous wrote:One time after dinner someone from work called our home to speak with my dad. He took the call in another room and we could overhear him laughing on the phone to the guy. I said to my mom "That kind of sounds like a fake laugh." And my mother said, "Daddy stopped laughing the day you were born. You just don't know what it sounds like."

A more recent story is that in 2021 my mother wasn't doing so great, and because of Omicron raging nobody in my family was flying to see each other. On the phone to my mother I told her "As soon as things are better, I'll come visit okay? I'll just bring my work laptop and fly out and hang out with you. What could be better than that?" and without missing a beat she replied, "Brian." My brother, her favorite. And then she died that night.

I'm so sorry

Senior year of high school. A long-distance friend in another state, a guy, asks me to come there and be his date for prom.

My mom, always up for a road trip, says sure, and we head to his town several hours away. She thinks it's cool and kind of hilarious that we're "crossing state lines for purposes of transporting a prom date."

As I'm leaving our hotel room in my prom dress, to go meet him in the lobby, I turn and ask her--being a Very Good Girl as a teen, and aware that we're in a town we don't know and she might worry a bit -- "What time do you want me back here by?"

She looked at me with that wry way she had and replied, "I've never set a curfew for you before this, and I'm not gonna start now. Go have a good time."

That was Mama. She trusted me, knew how to appreciate little things like a prom or a simple road trip, she was funny, she was loving, she was sometimes (I now realize) depressed and sometimes salty but always, always on my side. And she never did set a curfew for me, or judge any guy I ever dated, or any friend I ever had. Her trust made me want to be worthy of her trust in me. Miss her every day.

Anonymous wrote:I love my mom. She has a beautiful natural clean scent that smells like cloves and cardamom. Whenever I go to hug my mom, I bury my nose in her shoulders and take a deep inhale. She is also a very modest person, but even now her life revolves around worrying about us. She really has the milk of human kindness in her. Not a single person who comes to our house, goes without a hot meal. We just cannot repay her in this lifetime. Dad and mom gave us a wonderful family and life. We were and are blessed.

This is lovely and makes me feel wonderful knowing that a stranger out there has such beautiful things to say about their mom!

My mom is a quiet woman and very cautious. Careful to not pry for details or say anything that could potentially be upsetting. Almost to a fault.

But when I brought dh home for the first time, she could tell this relationship was different. She practically interviewed him carefully and gently to learn as much as she could. I've never heard her ask someone so many questions! As we were leaving the house and she hugged me she told me "he seems nice" which is her overly cautious way of approving, which she had never done before.

Me and her standing in the morning at a pickup place for female day laborers in NYC, waiting until someone shows up offering a day of cleaning for $5/hour.

She was an engineer in our home country, but her motto was and still is "you gotta do what you gotta do". She immigrated here not for herself, but because of me and my brother. Now that she is older, she can be the most whiny, annoying and entitled person ever, but we always remember her sacrifice.

I love these stories of wonderful mothers.

My parents got divorced my senior year of college and my mom was so heartbroken. She had been verbally and emotionally abused for 30 years at that point and had zero identity outside of her marriage. She had no hobbies, had never left the country, and lost quite a few friendships with the divorce. I didn't know what I wanted to do after college and we were both lost in our own ways so we picked up and backpacked Europe for 6 weeks. I was 22, she was 55, we got matching backpacks and hit the road! We stayed in hostels, couch surfed, and had the BEST time! It's 15+ years later and we've done an international trip together every other year since.

Anonymous wrote:Mom was the most selfless person I knew. She worked hard all her life, taking care of everyone, from her ILs to her grandkids.

She also had undiagnosed mental healthy issues. Her anxiety led to extreme perfectionist and controlling behavior. She had no filter nor any concept of privacy.

As a family friend said, she had a heart of gold and a tongue of dagger. It was not easy living with her. It was not easy living without her.

Oh, it seems that she was underappreciated all her life and others made use of her but did not reciprocate in kind or with kindness!

Mom was the most selfless person I knew. She worked hard all her life, taking care of everyone, from her ILs to her grandkids.

She also had undiagnosed mental healthy issues. Her anxiety led to extreme perfectionist and controlling behavior. She had no filter nor any concept of privacy.

As a family friend said, she had a heart of gold and a tongue of dagger. It was not easy living with her. It was not easy living without her.

I love my mom. She has a beautiful natural clean scent that smells like cloves and cardamom. Whenever I go to hug my mom, I bury my nose in her shoulders and take a deep inhale. She is also a very modest person, but even now her life revolves around worrying about us. She really has the milk of human kindness in her. Not a single person who comes to our house, goes without a hot meal. We just cannot repay her in this lifetime. Dad and mom gave us a wonderful family and life. We were and are blessed.

Just last night, my mom (80) called me (54) to say "I just got a notification that your package arrived. Did you see it outside?" I'm like, what package, huh? I go get a package, and she sent me a mug that says "Sometimes you forget you're awesome so this is your reminder." I'm drinking out of it right now. She was so happy to send that mug, and said "it's not even your birthday!" when we were talking last night. Such a sweet thing to do, and it honestly made my day!

From childhood, we moved from one state to another, building a house that wouldn't be ready for months after we sold the one we were living in. My mom decided we would take an epic road trip across the United States, and my dad could fly in and meet us when he could. The "rules" were that when it was just my mom, if we saw anything we wanted to see we'd stop. We'd wing it. Three kids and mom. When my dad was with us, we had to have an itinerary (that would be me today!!). So for the entire summer we wandered the U.S. before making it back to our new city, where we settled in a hotel for another six weeks while the house was finished. It was the greatest summer and start to school ever. We all loved it so much.

Anonymous wrote:She loved me. I miss her everyday. Seeing Mother’s Day cards makes me sad. I just want to buy one for her. She loved cards and waited for the mailman every day.

I am happy for those who have loving mothers. Seeing emotional Mother’s day cards about how meaningful their relationship is, only makes me tear up knowing that I don’t have that with my Mom. At most, I get a funny card because the emotional ones with words of love just don’t apply.