Let’s Collaborate on a Mother’s Day Tear Jerker
I want to help you give your mother something super special for Mother’s Day this year. Together we can touch her heart and make her weep May 13th.
Tell me why your mom rules? #mymomrules
So please don’t purchase her that lame card or soon-to-be-limp bouquet. Instead send her a copy of an eBook that contains a favorite memory with your name attached.
Like Chicken Soup of the Soul, Midlife Mona Lisa is compiling the best mother memories by collecting stories from sons and daughters via a contest running now through May 7th.
More than 212 entries will be included in the book along with accepted photographs, however only three winners will receive special recognition.
Midlife Mona Lisa will post the eBook, 212 Reasons My Mom Rules, just in time for Mother’s Day, May 13th. The eBook will be posted live for download at Midlife Mona Lisa Mother’s Day weekend. Any one can download a copy to read and winning entrant’s especially can to send a copy to their mothers for the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Deadline for entry is May 7, 2012. Entries should be no more than a paragraph, preferably 60 words or less.
Got writer’s block? Just answer these questions to come up with your entry
(1) When did you laugh until you cried because of your mom?
(2) What memories of your mom make you smile or cry when you think back?
(3) What funny sayings, stories or remarks did your mom always say?
There are three ways to enter (1) post your entry on the Midlife Mona Lisa’s Facebook page with a photo (2) direct message your entry on Twitter to @midlifemona using the hash tag #mymomrules (3) email your entry and photograph to Brenda [at] midlifemonalisa.com.
Entries from 212 sons and daughters will be selected, however only three will receive hard copies of the book along with gift certificates of $50 to the winner and $25 each to the runners up.
Here’s an excerpt from contest’s entrants thus far:
212 Reasons My Mom Rules
▪ I loved growing up hearing my mom read us grand stories of Greek gods, goats, and great cities. Just before my 50th birthday, I had to be hospitalized to remove a benign tumor on my spine. On one of my mom’s visits she pulled out the book, The Nose,” by Gogol, which I enjoyed hearing her read again to me even through my morphine induced fog. ~ Susie Hadas
▪ Even though she had six kids to tend to my mom took a side job ironing clothes for 10 cents an item so I could join the cheerleading squad and be able to buy the required uniform. ~ Audrey Sparks
▪ My mom always looked like a movie star and made sure my sister and I had cute clothes, table manners, baton skills, and the know-how to be strong, smart, and independent like her. Thanks mom! ~ Kelli Austin
▪ My mom was the perfect southern gentlewoman because she never left the house, even to just run to the post office, without full makeup, her hair done and a coordinated outfit. It was very disappointing to her when she would see me out and about in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, ponytail and no makeup. More than once, I got a lecture that always included “I can’t believe you have let yourself go like this!” ~ Betty G. Woody
▪ My mom rule because she’s both a great mother and roommate. At 83 she need a certain amount of looking after, but more for my own peace of mind. The arrangement gives me peace knowing I get to see her everyday without making an extra stop. She isn’t lonely and I don’t feel guilty. ~ Gina Danner
“My wish is to receive thousands of stories and photographs from around the world. What I don’t use in the book can be used in future articles, seminars and blog posts about special women and how they are leaving their legacy with their children and others,” says Brenda Clevenger, founder of Midlife Mona Lisa.
Kelli Austin, her mother, and her sister looking Easter Sunday marvelous.
Just 200 more entries to go, please post your stories in the comments below or email me at brenda [at] midlifemonalisa.com. I can’t wait to hear how your mom made you feel and made your life a little sweeter.
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I channel Dharma, Meg Ryan and Erma Bombeck while helping boomers find their groove and mojo. Light some incense, drink wine, bang your drum and love this part of your life with all your soul. It's time to shake you Boho bon bons honey.
My Mom was full of vim and vigor, had a cheerful nature and her nickname “Perky” was testament to those qualities. She was a lifelong athlete and could still hold her own on the tennis court at 70. She loved gardening, quilting and bowling. She loved chocolate and dragons. And she was fiercely proud of the 6 children she raised with my Dad. She left this world on Oct 13, 2005 and I miss her ever so much. I have decided that in many ways I really am becoming my Mother, and in this year of the dragon, I have embraced her bold Spirit as I symbolically post her Dragon Quilt on my Facebook wall.
She sounds wonderful just like her daughter. I’d like to learn more details “offline” about the dragon fetish.
There’s someone in my life that continues to amaze me with the amount of energy and zeal with which she comes at each and every day. This lady is my stepmom Dory, who lives on the other side of the state in a suburb of St. Louis called Kirkwood. Within that community, she’s well known for her tireless efforts to help others in a myriad of ways. In 1988 she was named Kirkwood “Citizen of the Year” and in 1989 received the “Missouri Individual Volunteer” award from the Missouri State Legislature! Now in her late 70’s she’s more active than a lot of 30 year olds I know – in spite of wrestling with cancer on three separate occasions. My dad was diagnosed with advanced brain cancer 12 years ago. It quickly became apparent that he was facing the last months of his life. Throughout that ordeal and right up to the end, she sat by his side acting as primary caregiver – making sure he was comfortable in his last days. A few years after dad passed and actively engaged in life once again, she met a very nice gentleman who shared membership at the golf club she attended. Love quickly blossomed as they came to realize they had much in common. They started planning a future together and all was looking very bright for the two of them. On a routine visit to the doctor’s office, it was discovered that David (her new beau) had a melanoma and although radical treatments ensued, he too succumbed to the disease about a year later. Almost as a cruel joke, shortly thereafter, she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. Some people might have given up at this point, having already lived a full life and witnessing what the course of cancer leads to from direct experience. Dory would have none of it. She loves life way too much and still felt she had much to do. The courage she showed in her battle against the disease was astounding to us all who witnessed what she went through. Several years later and now cancer free, her outlook on life is more inspiring than ever. She’s taken ahold of her recovery as a chance to do further service to humanity. At first she didn’t know exactly what to do. Through a mix of introspection and prayer, she’s allowed herself to be guided towards the cause of veterans’ struggles who’ve returned from war with severe disabilities. Because my dad used to play ball for the St. Louis Cardinals, Dory used her inroads with that organization to start a program whereby she obtains tickets for baseball games and then accompanies whole veterans families to the ballpark, with various treats and amenities included. In addition, she regularly attends the crisis unit at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in the St. Louis area to provide solace and a listening ear to our lost heroes who’ve returned from war both physically and emotionally scarred. Acting now as a galvanizing force to shine light on this group of forgotten heroes, she’s rallying and organizing all kinds of other efforts in the community to help these people out. Come this Mother’s Day, I reflect with much pride and love upon this woman who’s meant so much to me, my brothers and the many others who’ve come to rely on her philanthropic work over the years.