AARP Rewards Mother's Day Contest 2026!

I have very happy memories of my mother growing up.  She was passionate about gardening.  She was always busy making n the kitchen canning and freezing all the fruit and vegetables from the garden.  Growing up I was assisting in the harvest.  I am a Master Gardener and think of my mother often.  

My Mother is loving and thoughtful.She puts family above herself.She helps everyone who has a need.At the age of 91still occasionally cooks for family and friends.Makes the world better for her family and friends.Taught me to love and respect everyone.My Mother is my angel.

My mother was diagnosed with cancer at 27, when I was two years old. She was in and out of hospitals for two years, and we had to move several hundred miles for her family so my dad could work a job that gave him better money and benefits.

Being away from relatives was hard on her, but Mom corresponded regularly with my Aunt Francis about her illness and the minutia of our lives. When I turned 50, my aunt gave me the letters she had preserved in their envelopes. What a treasure!

Having only a couple of memories of my mother, the letters allowed me to know her. Her ups and downs, joys and sorrows. It was a look at my toddler years and even the news of the day. Some of the stories she told about my sister and I were hilarious. Some of her struggles were heartbreaking.

But whenever I’m feeling down, I read the missives and know I was loved. Between my mother writing them, and my aunt preserving them, the letters are truly the greatest gift I’ve ever received.

My Mom is so special to me. It's sounds like a cliché but she really is one of my best friends. She hasn't always had the easiest life but she has always put her kids 1st and grandkids even more. She can be feisty and tough at times but she is also caring and considerate. I don't want to know life without her in it. I cherish her to the fullest.  

Although my mother didn’t have the opportunity to attend college, she valued her children’s educations and always supported and encouraged our studies. I am grateful for her supporting me in my studies and for modeling what a lifelong learner looks like!

My mom was quite a character!  When making Christmas cookies she would make her famous spritz cookies.  Using the old fashion spritz maker she would squeeze a cookie shape out to the cookie sheet.  If the cookie dough was misshaped, should would sweep her hand down the cookie sheet and snatch up the dough....when doing this, she would just say "son of a bi**ch" and continue on with the next one.  These cookies became know as the "son of a bi**ch" cookies as we got older.

Once all her cookies were made, she would put them in tins and put them on a shelf going down to the basement.  With 5 kids, we all washed our hair down in the washtubs....but going down we all stopped to sneak a cookie.  It didn't matter what one we opened, but the cookies always were good early in the morning.  Not knowing that each of us was doing the sneaking, we were all surprised when mom finally noticed and called us all out.  We all admitted to eating them.  No wonder they were all gone.  She was not too happy when she had to make more cookies....but we all were more selective in the sneaking!!!

I learned from my mom that food is love.  I've carried on the tradition from my wise teacher. 

My mom’s rouladen is a family favorite, requested for birthdays and holidays. She learned the recipe from Mrs. Hass. We would pick up Mr. and Mrs. Hass on Sunday mornings and give them a ride to church. My three sisters and I not only learned how to cook from Mom, we also knew if you had an empty seat in your car, then there was room for fellow congregants passed the driving age.

One blessing received from Mrs. Hass was a dish made with beef, bacon, onions, Dijon mustard, and pickles. How can you go wrong? It’s the German favorite rouladen, which Mom always served with homemade spätzle. She would use a butter knife to cut the dough into small dumplings. When we would have a large crowd, I’d help form the spätzle and drop them into the boiling water. I can still feel the steam coming off the pot as the spätzle would rise to the top. Just a few minutes and you had the perfect textured dumpling, ladled with the best gravy you could eat by the spoonful. Yes, it’s that good.

I made 60 rouladen rolls for Mom’s surprise 75th birthday. We invited family, friends, and the ladies from her wedding party. She thought she was babysitting for her grandkids and was totally caught off guard. Of course, we brought clothes for her to change into. She’s a woman of the 50’s and would never think of going out of the house without first applying lipstick. As you can imagine, it was a great night with good food. 

My mom is a wonderful cook, harkening back to when dinner parties started with Manhattans and Whiskey sours. Fondue was set out on the coffee table and Julia’s Beef Bourguignon was the main attraction.

I bought her a 99-cent knife at Shop Rite that guaranteed to cut through anything. It actually worked and I learned how to cut a chicken into eight pieces holding the drumsticks apart, so she had tension to slice that sucker in half. Even though you can buy your chicken in pieces these days, it’s very satisfying to breakdown a whole bird every once in a while.

My three sisters and I have taken Mom on two cruises, which allows for many enjoyable meals together. One of our most memorable meals was dinner in Luxembourg. My mom’s dad was born in the Grand Duchy, but my mother had never visited her father’s home country. The night before our river cruise started, we ate al fresco and toasted her dad, my Pop-Pop, with raised wine glasses. The food that night wasn’t as good as my mom’s home cooking, but it was a dinner to remember.

If I speak to my sister on a day I’m preparing rouladen, by the time we’ve finished our conversation, she’s persuaded me to put some aside for her. I had better not forget to pull her stash from the freezer the next time I head up the Turnpike.

My mom's superpower was clairvoyance in predicting events.I have acquired the same attribute through life. It does have various advantages similar to fortune telling.

II am the youngest of five siblings. My mom went back to work when I was three years old to help support our family along with my dad. I watched through the years as Mom took care of her responsibilities at home along with her full-time job. When she came home from work at night, she started dinner for the family. She taught us how to cook and to do chores, not only to help her but so we would be able to take care of ourselves. She was a superwoman, but she always took the time to give us a hug good-bye or a kiss goodnight. She has gone to Heaven, but her memory keeps me going in hard times. When I lack courage or strength, all I have to do is think of Mom, and the strength comes to do what I need to do. What an inspiration she was (and is!), and I thank God for her every day! I miss you, Mom!

At 81, my mom is still there for me. I can call anytime of the day or night and she will answer. She still gives me loving advice and is guiding me on how to be a parent to all adult children. Once a week we get together with my daughters to have sewing night. Sometimes we get a project made. Sometimes she is teaching us new techniques but most of the time we get loving advice or hear her latest concerns for us. Other times we are laughing so much our stomachs hurt. We love hearing about her childhood, when my parents met, how they got through their hard times, her memories of me, my brother, and our children when we were little. A girl could not ask for a better mother than the one I have. She is a beacon!