Mother, mā, anne, أم, mère, mamá, मां, Mutter, Okaasan, Mor, Iya, Nanay

May is the month of Mother's Day in my country. It is held on the second Sunday of the month every May, and this year it will be held on the 9th.

I thought in honor of the holiday I would make a thread about moms.

Do you have some good memories to share of your mother, nice things to say about what she is/was like, or something that you consider valuable that you learned from her?

If you don't remember your mother or don't have a strong relationship with your mother, then perhaps there is a mother-like figure in your life like another family member, neighbor or teacher, whom you'd like to talk about?

If mother's day is celebrated in your community will you do something for your mom on this day/did you do something if the holiday has passed in your country? Maybe you'll give your mother a present or go visit her, cook her a meal? Something like looking at a possession of hers and thinking of her if she is no longer here, or lighting a candle for her counts too! People honor their parents in all kinds of different ways :)

When Father's Day comes around in June, you can bet I'll be making another thread like this to celebrate our dads too!

My mother is the strongest person I've ever met, the older I get the more I understand it.

Stepped up and did everything completely on her own as a single parent when our dad passed away out of nowhere, and never had a complaint. I also ended up with pretty much every trait of her personality. Down to the exact sense of humor, not making a big deal out of small issues, being highly intuitive of others, a preference to express emotion in private.

My mum is the most incredible person, I look up to her everyday. She is my real life role model if I had one. Her work ethic is unparalleled both in her professional life but also the effort she puts in towards achieving her own personal goals. She taught me the importance of a consistent and strong work ethic, learning to work with discipline rather than from motivation and also is supportive of what I do and recognises that I try my best, which is all I could want. She is an immigrant parent and I can't imagine how difficult it would have been coming to a country where English is your 2nd language but my mum was thriving! Somehow she was reading Jane Eyre when English was her 2nd language by the time she was 20 and had only had limited education at school in how to read English, she taught herself. The day before she gave birth to me she took the last exam for her MBA.

She also taught me the importance of making the most of your free time and finding what you are passionate about, for my mum, she loves the outdoors. My fun fact when people ask about her is that my Mum has climbed Mt. Everest! She also regularly runs ultramarathons and I have no idea how she's still going well into her mid 50's but she taught me that it's possible to have a good work-life balance if you make time for it. I am in awe of my mum everyday. She doesn't even want to rest as she approaches retirement, she wants to go back to school and become a counsellor - she has always been very interested in psychology.

I think my relationship with my mum is different from the affectionate bond that people sometimes see between a mother and their child, we have never been that verbally affectionate/physically affectionate but my mum shows her support and care in her own way of wanting to make sure her kids have the best possible opportunities in life. If I could go back to when I was younger, I would tell myself to thank my mum more for the opportunities she created for us even if at the time they did not sit well with me as a kid, haha (looking at you, years of tutoring). I sometimes tell my mum that she needs to take a break but she would not have her life any other way - at the end of the day I just want her to be happy so I'll support whatever she does! As for Mother's Day, I'm still thinking of what to get... my family has always struggled with these occasions as my mum just buys everything she wants so we'll see, perhaps something homemade or a trip. :D

My mom went through two hard marriages that nearly wrecked her, but she's always been there for me. Now that it's just us, I'll look after her.

My mum died when I was still a kid. I don't have any pictures, and time has pretty much stolen her face from me now. I wish I could remember better. I miss her so much.

She was pretty religious, and may not have approved of me now, but I'll never know. She had to go through a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering caused by other people, and yet she still always tried her very best, so I'm sure she would have loved me just the same :)

I miss you mum, I love you <3

My mom passed away, going on five years now, from cancer. She was the one person in this world that I knew without a doubt, that loved me. A look is all that I needed from her to know that she cared and loved me. She was and is the best person that I have ever known. She was a strong and beautiful woman of faith that loved God with all of her heart. She put up with a lot from my father, RIP, and honored her wedding vows, staying with him. She was a loving presence where ever she went and always cared about how you were doing. She would go out of her way to help you and she always put others before herself. A true Saint amongst us. She was my rock, my constant, my best friend, my mother and I miss her so much. I think about her every day and I know she is looking down from Heaven, watching out for me, giving me the strength and courage to fight on. One day when this world passes away, I will see her, my father and all my other loved ones that I've lost along the way. I love you mom, more than words can describe ❤

The replies in this thread honestly make me want to cry. You guys all have/had incredible mothers.

My mom is the person I'm most comfortable confiding in and I feel that we usually connect very well. We're incredibly similar in being shy and introverted, and understand the struggles of mental health (especially anxiety in particular). She's very accepting of me and is often showering me with support and patience. I feel a lot more comfortable being open to her than my dad, since she's so much less judgmental. We've had some rocky moments in the past but I really appreciate her. <3 She has had some health scares before also, honestly nothing I know much about even now because she's so private with them since she doesn't want us to worry too much, but right now it all seems okay and I hope that'll continue.

My mom was a raging, alcoholic, narcissist who I traded weed with (and got high with regularly) in exchange for selling dope out of the house, who died from sudden cardiac arrest when I was just a teenager on the one year anniversary with my husband to be.

..I believe she loved me in the only way she knew how, a sick and dysfunctional way. Which goes back way more generations than just her. There no fault to be had, not anymore, but the cycle stops with me.

My family is a somewhat unfortunate one. Awful diseases regularly rampage through and a lot of toxic attitudes are still ingrained, especially in some family members.

My mothers mother died of cancer while she was still young. Her father didn't know how to deal with it and as a result not only neglected her when she needed him most. He also developed an unhealthy obsession with health which would plague not only her, but basically the whole family.

Additionally, my father was unable to work due to an accident which basically ruined his back. As if that wasn't enough, he also got an incurable auto immune sickness which basically perforated his guts, causing him massive pain throughout the majority of his life.

As a result my mother had to earn all the money, which given she was only working at a book store was not a lot. Later on she started learning another job where she tended to people in a retirement home. Whenever she got back home, especially in the later years, she would need to tend to my fathers pains as well, as his sickness got worse and worse. At some point he went to the hospital for a surgery, but after that failed he went into a coma. My mother the had to make the decision to turn off the machines that kept him alive.

Nowadays she's still working in that retirement home and only expects me to write once every week. At this point I should also mention that I'm a terrible human being who does not feel any sort of emotional connection to my mother, even though she totally deserves it after all she went through.

My mom died in 2008. Mother's Day also falls on my birthday this year. I'm not looking forward to it. I only vaguely remember her now and that makes me sad.

There are times that my mom wanted to strangle me for how I dressed for school and how bad my attitude was. She was also afraid of how my future would be after high school. My older sister never finished college because she had a baby, so she pushed me to go beyond that, but the problem is that she could never help me with my homework, because she never finished high school herself. She felt really bad about it, but I still did more than what she asked for.

Becoming the first person in the family to graduate from university is and will always be the best gift she will always get for Mother's Day. When I approached her while wearing my cap and gown I remember she immediately broke down and cried in tears of joy, because she never thought I would get this far. Her mom didn't allow her to go to college because of reasons beyond her control, and when she told me she and dad won't be able to afford college for me back then, I told them "it's okay, I'll get a job, apply for financial aid, I'll find a way."

She's strong, free-spirited, and knows what's best for me.

Since I'm in a different state right now, I normally send her a care package to her along with a phone call. Since she likes to observe both Mother's Day's here in the U.S. AND in Mexico, she asks for two care packages and two phone calls, because she feels she's entitled to that. LOL

Here's a random photo of me and my mother last mother's day. may have been 2 years back. either way not super long ago

https://i.imgur.com/RigRrnt.jpg

i posted once in the selfie thread, but uh my eyes are actually opened on this one so it's +3 points for effort.

realized i shared it with @visionofmilotic on discord a while back, so that's where i found it. (thankfully i did that, and for my good memory because I realized I shared it there, i thought the photo was gone forever).