How to Give your Mom A Mother’s Day Gift She Will Never Forget

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SMB PHOTO

Back In college, I loved writing  letters.

As I got older, penmanship and letter writing became too time consuming and cumbersome. Instead, I succumbed to picking up a Hallmark Card for holidays and birthdays. With the evolution of technology, the advent of e-mail and text messages, it is easy to understand why letter writing is a lost art.

Yet, it remains undeniable: there is something special about a letter.

As a young girl, I would run down to our mailbox and let my mom know that there was a letter from India from her father and mother. I still remember the light blue aerogramme paper, the smells of my mom’s home, and my grandfather’s familiar and neat letters on the front of the envelope. At the end of the letter, my grandfather wrote a little snippet to me. Those neat lines made me feel so valuable. I know the letter offered much more to my mom. She could hold on to something that her parents had touched, especially since they were halfway around the world. My mom kept these letters, sometimes reading them in quiet corners around the house, reminiscing about things she only knows.

For Mother’s Day, I am taking a cue from my grandparents and I am going to pen a letter to my mom to let her know what our relationship means. Here are some steps that you can take to compose your letter to your mother and make it a mother’s day gift she will always treasure.

How to Get Started:

Supplies

Go to the local bookstore and peruse the aisles for stationery paper. Select colors and designs that you believe your mother might enjoy. Buy a new pen, either a fine point or calligraphy, to help write your letter.

Composing the Letter

Before writing your letter on stationery, you may want to practice on a notepad. For the letter to have a lasting impact, decide what area of your relationship means the most to you. The most important piece of advice to remember is to make the letter personal to your relationship with your mother. Focus on something that only you and she have shared together. Some possible ideas:

  • A childhood memory that you and your mother enjoyed together. Describe why this memory still has a lasting impression on you and what impact it has made on you as an adult.
  • Detail all of the lessons your mom has taught you over the years. List concrete examples of where your mom conveyed an important truth and how you have taken this lesson and applied it to your own life.
  • Talk about your life as a child and what advice you heard your mother give. Let your mother know why this advice is important and how you hope to impart this wisdom to your own children.
  • Thank your mother for her love and explain why her love has been such an inspiration to you over the years.

Additional Personal Touches

If you have siblings and/or children, get them involved in this letter writing exercise. You can ask your brothers and sisters to compose their own letters and also have the grandchildren write special notes to their grandmother. If available, include pictures that represent a special moment between you and your mother. During the week of Mother’s Day, each of you can mail a different letter, as a surprise.

Mother’s Day is all about moms. The letter you compose will carry so much significance that those days when your mother wants to remember the importance of her role in your life, she can grab what you wrote, and read it over and over again. The personal touch of your handwriting and your words will definitely endure.

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Rudri Patel
Rudri Bhatt Patel is a former attorney turned freelancer writer. Prior to attending law school, she graduated with an M.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing. She is the managing editor for The First Day and her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Brain, Child, The Huffington Post, The Review, Review Role, Reboot, The Mid and elsewhere. She writes her personal musings on her blog, Being Rudri, and is currently working on a memoir that explores Hindu culture, grief and appreciating life’s ordinary graces. She enjoys reading, writing and running. Rudri has lived in the Valley since 2009 with her husband and daughter (9). You can find Rudri on Twitter, Facebook and Being Rudri.