Thanks, Mom, You’re Great

Dear Ann Landers: I remember reading a Mother’s Day essay in your column a few years back that touched me deeply. My mother and I were not very close when I was growing up, but after reading that column, I did my best to change the situation. This Mother’s Day, I plan to take Mom to a special brunch and spend the day with her. She was thrilled when I invited her.

I know there are other children whose relationships with their mothers are less than perfect. Maybe if you print that column again, it will help them the way it helped me. Thank you, Ann. - A Reader in the Bronx

Dear Bronx Reader: Here it is - and on Mother’s Day. Your timing was perfect. I hope my male readers will understand that Mother’s Day is for sons, too. Here’s the column you asked for:

Dear Mom: I wish I could spend Mother’s Day with you, but I can’t, so I am writing a letter instead and hope you read it in Ann Landers’ column. I understand so many things now that I didn’t understand when I was growing up. I didn’t know how hurt you were by some of the things I said and did until I was hurt the same way by my own children.

Until I traveled that road myself, I had no idea how hard you worked, with never a complaint, or the burdens you carried doing the everyday things I took for granted.

I didn’t know how many times I could have made you happy by just saying, “I love you, Mom” - or “I appreciate what you are trying to do for me” - but I know now because it would mean the world to hear those words from my own children.

It took me all my life to learn what a mother is. I wish there was some way I could let you know now how much I appreciate your years of sacrifice and unselfishness, your efforts to keep us on the right track, and everything you did to help your children grow up straight and strong. Thanks, Mom, you are the greatest. - Your Daughter

Dear Daughter: I am delighted you gave no clue as to your identity. I hope thousands of mothers who read your beautiful letter on this appropriate day will think perhaps it was written by their daughter. My thanks to you and God bless.

And here’s one more for that unsung heroine, the stepmother:

Dear Ann: A lot is said about mothers and grandmothers on Mother’s Day. I would like to pay tribute to stepmothers.

I’ve had a stepmother in my life for 20 years, since my parents divorced and my father remarried. She didn’t raise me. I was an adult when she joined our family.

I have learned to love this woman and appreciate her and her generous heart. Not only has she brought love and kindness into my father’s life, she has also loved me and my family. She has supported us in every way with her sharing and giving spirit. She has never forgotten us on our birthdays or on holidays, and often, the gifts she gives are something she has made with her own hands.

I would like to pay tribute to her today. I love her and want her to know how grateful I am for all she has done for me, my husband, my children and my father. - A Stepdaughter in Grand Rapids

Dear Stepdaughter: Your stepmother sounds wonderful. And so do you. Be sure to show her a copy of this when it appears in the Grand Rapids Press and tell her you wrote it. She’s going to be thrilled.