Mom Thoughts:

When I was little, Mom and I used to set playdates every week where Mom would take off work so we could go on an adventure. We used to play “beauty shop” a lot too on those play days. While I would start out taking my job very seriously, it almost always devolved from “beauty shop” to “make mom look as silly as possible.” She was always a good sport (even when I insisted we show off my goofy handiwork to the rest of the family)!

— Eva Jacobson

A special thank you to my mom who joined me and my sister in hours and hours…and hours of singing silly songs to make car rides fly by. 

— Liesl McWhorter

My mom used to make traditional European/Balkan dishes like Moussaka, Ratatouille, etc. (she grew up briefly in Greece, Switzerland, and France) when I was growing up — when I got into farming after graduating college, we used to have a great time making these dishes with as many self-grown farm or garden ingredients as possible. The flavor and sentiment of the dishes were always increasingly awesome the more homegrown product we could include! My mom is now 2000 miles away, but she still plants a little garden outside their home each year now as a token of appreciation for everything we learned together from my time working on the farm outside of Green Bay. It has really brought things full circle as her mom and dad grew up in Kansas on a farm and went to college so they could move off of the farm, but gardened their whole lives as well.   

— Austin Becker

The best “Mom Gratitude” I have is that because of my mom’s ninja parenting skills coupled with sacrifices she made –  I really didn’t know what we didn’t have; dollars and resources had to be stretched far in a family of seven.  However, I did know what I had – love, encouragement, learning to respect elders, as well as my country and my siblings; I was taught manners, given expectations, and also given what I needed to make decisions, including freedom to make mistakes.

— Deb Sternagel

My mother was very quiet and rather shy. (My dad was the genial, outgoing guy!) I remember her cooking some special things when I was very young, but as she went to work in the clothing factory after I was school age, her cooking habits changed along with others who embraced canned vegetables and pre-cooked chicken. It was a treat for us when she baked something from scratch. When I first brought my husband home to meet her on college break (my Dad had passed) I was surprised when she brought out a homemade blueberry pie. It was good to the last bite, and when she turned her back, Paul picked up his plate and licked it clean. Alas, she caught his maneuver out of the corner of her eye and in a very unprecedented gesture, walked up to him, laughed, and gave him a swat on the back of his head. It’s a habit I continue to embrace if ever needed!

— Brenda Vanderloop