On this Mother’s Day, SOPHE staff wrote their thoughts on what this day means to them. Take time today to reflect on your memories of your mother, grandmother, Godmother, stepmother, or special woman in your life.

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The memories of my mother, Joanna Maultsby Chatman, run the gamut. She passed away from pancreatic cancer on July 11, 2018. But the memories that I want to share are the Mother’s Days with my Mother. We would always go to church together (even as adults) and she would wear a stunning hat with her dress. We would go out to dinner and all of the women would remark about her hats! One particular Mother’s Day when I lived in New Jersey, we went to brunch at the Trenton Marriott. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Colemen was there with her family and I introduced her to my Mother. She was so impressed with her hat that she wanted to take a picture with her! We enjoyed our Mother’s Days with Mom and will always remember them by looking at our photos. The moment was always captured on film!
~Doreleena Sammons Hackett

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Mother’s Day is a time of reflection, renewal and gratitude. At the culmination of spring into the dawn of summer it’s an appropriate time to revisit growth and change as ever transient, constants. An opportunity to reflect on mothers, mother figures, maternal archetypes and how one might wish to be a mother or mother figure to someone else one day in the future. A perfect reminder of our great Mother Nature which provides imagery all around us, giving us a moment of pause to reflect on the rebirth, renewal and regenerative growth of budding flowers, plants experiencing new life and the impermanence of seasons. Lastly, a sense of gratitude is met with the joy and hope for a future. Whether you are a mother, hope to become a mother, have struggled with motherhood or are learning to embrace a new form of your femininity, be grateful for what is and what will be. Each day is new. Happy Mother’s Day.
– Anonymous

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I lost my mother in January 2021. I shared a house with my mom and my family for the past 20 years. Now, every day seems like a dream. I remember when my children were younger, we would gather every evening for dinner around the kitchen table. Everyone had to help cook, set the table, clean the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Usually, we ate around 7:00 p.m., just in time for “Wheel of Fortune.” My mother loved looking at that show and guessing the winning phrase. Now my son is grown and lives and works between Arizona and Massachusetts. My daughter is off to college in August and the house will be empty in more ways than I can ever imagine. My mother enjoyed Mother’s Day – she loved all holidays. She liked to go out to dinner – she didn’t believe mother’s should ever cook on their special day. This year, I look forward to staying home and reminiscing about all the special Mother’s Days we spent together.
– Brigitte Johnson