Memorable Gifts for Mom

—Unsigned

Many years ago when I was a young teen, I had an argument with Mother; this was unusual as we had always been best of friends. I felt guilty and read a story ... about giving a hyacinth to a "friend" to say you are sorry. For the next 40 years, I sent Mom a hyacinth either for her birthday (April 6) or Easter, whenever they were available. The last four years of her life she lived with me. I now look out and see the last four plants I gave her--which I planted in a little area outside my bedroom window--and think of her.

—Unsigned

My favorite Mother's Day present was about 20 years ago... My three children knew that I love to garden and wanted to have fresh eggs and a more organic fertilizer for my flowers. I worked evenings, so on Mother's Day they let me sleep in as long as they could. They came into my room where I was fast asleep and placed a box full of baby chickens in my bed! Some of them jumped out of the box and the laughter from the kids at my waking up with baby chickens all over me in bed was just too funny.

—Billie

My husband was a very traditional 12-longstemmed-roses man up until a few years ago. I have convinced him (as well as my children) to give me rose bushes instead. I can plant them and enjoy the benefits all season long, instead of having 12 dead roses after a few days. Now that my children are adults they compete with their father in finding the most unusual or most colorful blooms out there! Once I even received a Venezuelan Peace Rose--talk about cool!

—Jenna Martin

I would like to share my story of a special mom who [passed away] in December 2004. She lived with us the last seven years of her life and we shared a lot of memories and favorite things--like gardening and cooking. She was the master chef of the family and was always cooking for someone--a neighbor, daughter, sister or a friend. Her Mexican cooking was known throughout the whole family--everyone enjoyed gathering for one of her meals.

Her favorite flower was iris. She gathered all her irises when she moved in with us and with the ones that I had, she planted all of them in the front corner of my yard. Each year I have this heavenly garden of irises in bloom and I think of her especially on her birthday, March 31, just when her flowers begin to bloom.

—Kathy Fierro

Last year my daughter and her husband came over and planted flowers. They and their eight children also helped mow and trim my yard--no easy task since I have three acres. They continued to help me all summer.

—Maureen Didion

On the last Mother's Day that my stepmother was alive, I drove five hours and spent a few days with her. A friend had given her a daylily in a pot. Mother was bedridden. I sat in a chair next to her all night and we watched that flower bloom. It was marvelous for both of us and a precious memory.

—Judy Moss

One year my daughter Karen gave me a $50 gift certificate to Binding Stevens, a nursery in Tulsa. The hardest part was trying to decide what to get. I know I spent the $50 about 50 times. I probably drove the people at Binding Stevens crazy. But I will never forget that Mother's Day.

—Ruth Fountain

I am 48 now. When I was 22, my mother-in-law began giving me geraniums every year for Mother's Day. I was not especially fond of them but happily accepted them, as these were my father-in-law's favorite. I am now a landscape designer myself and have a very fond spot for geraniums as well, for they take me back to my youth and all the learning and growing I've done since. I give geraniums now to my two daughters for Mother's Day, who seem to care about as much as I did. But I'll just sit back, wait, and watch, who knows?

—Unsigned

My favorite Mother's Day was spent with my aging mom. It was back in the late 1980's; my parents had moved to Wisconsin from Illinois some years before. I put together all the makings for a brunch the day before, loaded up the car with flats of colorful annuals, and all the tools and shovels I could wedge in between my then-young son, myself and Spook, our lab. With the car filled to the brim, we traveled to their house. I popped the breakfast casserole into the oven, warmed up the cinnamon rolls, and prepared the fruit cups and muffins--the house was filled with the smell of springtime. [After breakfast we] went outside to enjoy the day...[Mom] beamed as she watched the bare soil light up with color. Within a few hours the plot she could see from the patio window was transformed before her eyes. Before I knew it she was hauling out lawn ornaments, cleaning and filling the birdfeeders and filling the bird baths, while soaking the newly planted flowers. The smell of the cooking, the spring breeze and the feel of the warm earth in my hands still come back to me when I remember that particular Mother's Day, but most of all I can see the joy on Mom's face.

—Nancy Reeg

My daughters always do something nice for Mother's Day. I think back to one time in particular that was really special. We had a cistern just outside the back door that we were no longer using. It was about a foot high and six feet across. We would sit on it, and the kids used it as a table for coloring in the summer. I had expressed some ideas about covering it with dirt and planting flowers to make it more appealing. When I woke up Mother's Day morning, the girls, ages 7 and 11, with some help from daddy, had prepared a fruit and toast breakfast and then took me outside to see the dirt and flowers for the new flower bed. We worked all day putting it together. It was the best Mother's Day ever.

—Theresa Leibold

My most memorable Mama's Day gift was not a gift that I gave to my Mama, but rather one that I believe she gave me. I went to a symphony-sponsored house tour with my daughter on Mother's Day in 1997, and spotted a cute terra-cotta frog sitting on a big mushroom. Her feet were crossed at the ankle. Her upturned smiling mouth was blowing a kiss. Her hand was stretched out directly to me.

One of my Mama's greatest gifts to all of us was that she blew a kiss with her hand for us to catch every time we separated. The more I looked at that frog, the more I was drawn to her, so I purchased it and put it on my kitchen window so I could see her every day when I wash the dishes. At that time I didn't realize the significance, but later that year I looked at that frog [and] felt an amazing sense of warmth like someone hugging me tightly and "saw" my Mama wishing me love, bidding me farewell with a million kisses from heaven. My Mama had died in February of 1997, and I can still feel her spirit touching me when I look at this sweet and enduring little terra-cotta frog blowing me a kiss.

—Beatrice Mead

Last year for Mother's Day, my son Bill, 22, dug out a grassy section along our patio. He filled it in with new soil, edged it and planted bulbs, annuals and perennials. This was his surprise gift to me as I was not my regular spring-gardening self. I had recently finished chemo and radiation for breast cancer and had also had carpal tunnel surgery. I was feeling down and didn't have enough strength to garden as I normally would at that time of the year. (I garden for my mental state!) What a wonderful surprise for me as I saw him digging away in our new beautiful garden! This is one of the nicest things my son could have done. As a new Mother's Day tradition, we've continued to extend this garden together. Bill bought me a hydrangea for Easter because he knew how much I admire them, but more importantly he knew it would fair well in our new plot.

—Kathleen M. Dasher