MOTHER'S DAY GIVES CAUSE TO PAUSE FONDLY

Mother's Day is fraught with expectations. Retailers and advertisers stress the importance of the right greeting card, the perfect present, the most memorable celebration.

But what mothers really want is to know that they are doing something right. And the people who can best answer this question are their children.

A few Y-Press members agreed to share some of their thoughts and recollections of their special, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind mothers.

The Mangans

Our mom has a sweet and selfless nature -- she always thinks about others before herself. When she earns money from her tutoring job, she spends it on groceries and other things we need, rather than just spending it on herself.

Mom has many talents. She's an excellent cook and lets us help her in the kitchen. She's also a talented musician and enjoys singing and playing the piano. And she loves math and teaches two algebra classes at our home-school co-op.

On top of that, we have eight siblings, and she home-schools all of us. But she is always there to help us through difficult times.

By Becky Mangan, 10: A couple of weeks ago, I felt discouraged after my friends showed me all the gymnastics tricks they could do.

When Mom saw my sad face, she asked me what was wrong. When I told her that I felt sad that I didn't have the same abilities that my friends did, she reminded me that everyone has unique talents.

Then she encouraged me to have fun playing the piano and discovering what I'm good at. Mom also told me what matters most is what's inside me.

By Laura Mangan, 12: I love spending time with my mom, especially gardening and thrift shopping. She and I often plant things together and make garden plans.

In April, she took me shopping for plants on my birthday. It was a chilly Saturday morning, and we didn't have much time in the garden center. But she didn't rush me and showed as much enthusiasm as I did in finding the best plants.

My mom is excellent at tracking down door-buster deals. She often informs us about garage sales, Goodwill half-off sales and other deals. She and I often wake up early on weekends and go shopping together. It's a great time for us to talk about recent things. Even though Mom is busy teaching classes in our home-school co-op, doing housework, helping us with school and driving us to activities, she takes time to talk to each of us.

The Waddells

Our mother is not just a mom, but also our teacher. She home-schools us and our four other siblings. Although teaching is a tough job, she cheerfully does it every day. When discipline is needed, she does it with love and patience, not anger and frustration.

In addition to academics, our mother strives to instill in us qualities such as forgiveness, selflessness, cheerfulness and patience.

She prepares nutritious meals for our family of eight; for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday through Sunday.

By Afton Waddell, 13: One of my favorite times with my mom was when she and I went to Brown County for a mother /daughter retreat. During the day, we shopped and explored the little town. In the evenings, we had long talks about issues that I would be facing during my teenage years, and we completed some crafts. For lunch and dinner, we tried different restaurants, and for dessert, we went to a tiny ice-cream place that served homemade ice-cream. We stayed overnight at a bed-and- breakfast.

To commemorate our special weekend, my mother gave me a beautiful heart-shaped diamond necklace. It will always be a special reminder of our memorable time together.

By Alexander Waddell, 10: Some of my most memorable experiences with my mom are when we go to the mall together. We like to stop at Chick-Fil-A for dinner, then we go to Auntie Anne's for a cinnamon sugar pretzel.

We have fun together talking while shopping. But more importantly, I have my mom all to myself. Since I'm one of six kids, I don't get to spend much time alone with her.

Other moms

By Jake Thornburgh, 12: My mom is great. She is so kind and fair to everyone. You cannot find anyone as compelled to make the community a better place. Her full-time job, besides helping me and my siblings, is to be the coordinator of the Dignity Center at the Orchard School.

My mom has always helped me through the toughest times. For example, last semester I was having trouble in school, and instead of lecturing me, she listened to me. Then she showed me some ways to do things more efficiently, and it helped. I gradually got better. By the end of the year, I nearly had straight A's.

I can only imagine what she goes through. You couldn't find a better mom in the world than her.

By Clare Welch, 12: In preschool, my first drawings of my mom always had her wearing a blue dress in a flower garden with me standing next to her in my red dress. As I get older, she continues to stand by me.

She is always there when I need to talk. Sometimes I get upset or mad, but my mom will always be waiting for me when I'm ready to speak my mind. A couple months ago, for example, I had a relationship difficulty. I came home and kept quiet about it for a few days. When I finally got around to telling her about it, she was ready and waiting for me to confide. Instead of offering advice or interrupting, she just listened. After our conversation, I felt like a great weight had been lifted.

If I were to draw a picture of my mom today, it would definitely not be in a flower garden. We would be sitting at a table talking, maybe eating, but talking about things that are important to me, like school and friends.

By Keenen Brannon, 12: Cheryl Duff is a hardworking, down-to-earth, all-around nice person. She is also my mother, and I honor her for raising me for 12 years. And while these years may have been hard, what I am hoping is that she can look back and be proud.

Not too long ago, I remember when she helped me out with a problem. I was playing a video game and just could not get how to win for anything. But after 20 minutes of watching me, she said, "Why don't you just put the explosive on the walls to blow them up?" I really thought this wasn't going to work, but I tried anyway. Then to my surprise, it actually worked. Who knew moms knew anything about video games?

More importantly, she's always there to offer her caring advice. She will always inspire me.