What’s the Greatest Gift Your Mother Ever Gave You?

My name. I was named after my great-grandmother on my mother’s side. I never met her but am told I’m a lot like her―a strong woman who stands up for what she believes in and doesn’t take crap from anyone. I’m proud to have her name and carry on her legacy.
Caroline Joyce
Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania

When I was in college, my mother used to mail cards to me each week of a semester, and inside the cards were puzzle pieces. At the end of the semester, I would receive the last piece, and it would always be a handmade puzzle with words of encouragement. Something so small meant the world to me and kept me uplifted during particularly grueling semesters.
Jena Simonds
Atlanta, Georgia

My mother died when I was six, so she’ll never know the incredible gift she gave me. I fell in love with Irish traditional music at the age of 40 and took up the fiddle. I wanted one of my own, but good instruments are expensive. About that time, my aunt called to say that she had found out about a retirement account my mother had begun before her death. That money bought me my beautiful violin. Every time I play it, I try to thank my mom for her enduring gift of music.
Sally Sommers Smith
Burlington, Massachusetts

Integrity. Many years ago, when I was a carefree teen with a steady boyfriend, another young man, the school heartthrob, asked me to a movie. Without a second thought, I accepted. As we were leaving, my mother pulled me aside and said, “I won’t lie for you.” Of course, the steady boyfriend called, Mom didn’t lie, and I learned that the choices we make affect not only many people but also the way we feel about ourselves at the end of the day.
Polly Stevenson
Southampton, New York

Her laugh. My mother and I have the same big, boisterous laugh that people can hear rooms away. There’s no mistaking whether or not we think something is funny, and it has gotten me in trouble more than once. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Katy Kreider
Greenville, North Carolina

I have two moms. One is my birth mother, and one is my adopted mom. My birth mother gave me life; my adopted mother gave me a life.
Linda Luongo
Budd Lake, New Jersey

The greatest gift my mother ever gave me was the lesson that a woman is responsible for taking care of her own body. From my early teens, she would tell me how important it was to find a good gynecologist who I could trust and to make my health a top priority. Before my first visit as a teen, she told me what to expect and why it was important. But most of all, she stressed that not all women had access to health care like I did and that I should not take it for granted. While many of my friends dread going to the gynecologist each year, I always look at the visit as empowering, remembering my mother’s words and feeling proud that I am taking good care of myself.
Lyn Waller
St. Louis, Missouri

When I was newly married and very young, my mother gave me a handwritten cookbook of all my favorite family recipes. Most had comments from her, such as “Monkey bread―will be fun to make with your little monkeys someday.” It also contained a wonderful paragraph about me beginning with “For our daughter, who was never afraid to get her hands dirty.” I cherish it and will pass it on to my daughters.
Carla Cox
Carmel, Indiana