Opinion: What do you want your mom to know?
On a special bonus episode (first released on May 12, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: We're putting the spotlight on moms today, asking readers to share about why it's so important to honor moms or maternal figures in our lives. Forum is a series from USA TODAY's Opinion team, dedicated to showcasing views from across the political spectrum on issues that Americans are starkly divided on. If you'd like to weigh in on a different topic, you can find more questions at usatoday.com/forum. And if your submission is selected for print, we might invite you to add your voice to a future special bonus episode like this one. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Michael McCarter:
Hello, and welcome to The Excerpt. Yesterday was Mother's Day, so today on Forum, we're sharing what our readers wanted to share about their moms. I'm Michael McCarter. I lead the opinion sections of Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY. This is a special bonus episode of the Excerpt, highlighting a series from USA TODAY's Opinion Team called Forum. Here's what you told us.
Ariel Mitsch:
My favorite Mother's Day tradition is probably the ones that I've started with my children and my mom now. Instead of us getting a hanging plant or just buying something, my daughter really likes to make certain things. So just the other day, we painted her a canvas of mountains. So I try to incorporate things that are handmade because I know my mom is really sentimental, and I am too.
Michael McCarter:
That's Ariel Mitsch, a 35-year-old who lives in Lowell, Indiana. Even when it's hard work, she's grateful for the relationship she has with her mom.
Ariel Mitsch:
I would just like to tell my mom that I appreciate her, that I acknowledge all the things that as mothers we do that go unnoticed. But being a mom now, I see it, I totally see it, and I thank her for everything she did for me. I think it's important to honor moms because we do so much, and most of the time, we're putting ourselves last, and I don't think we realized what kind of toll that takes on us until later. Our mothers are everything, it's how we become who we are. So I know how much of an effect everything I say and do is affecting my kids, and I want to be a good role model for them, just the way my mom was.
I'm just so grateful and thankful for my mom and the relationship that we have. We worked hard to get it, it's not something that came easy all the time. No mom is perfect, we are all just trying to do the best that we can. This Mother's Day, I just want everyone to know how much we're appreciated, even if our kids and our husbands and our family can't say it, but I know how much they appreciate everything we do.
Michael McCarter:
Andrea Markel lives in Danbury, Connecticut, and she's 33 years old. She shared that she's pulling for her mom to head down a different path than the one that she's on.
Andrea Markel:
I believe being a good mother is probably the most challenging task in the world. Absolutely, we should honor our mothers for taking on such a tremendous and incredibly important task. I would like to tell my mother that there is always time to change your course for the next chapter of your life. My mother has struggled throughout her life with alcoholism, I struggled with pretty much a wide range of substance abuse, alcohol and drug use myself. There's always time. There's always time. It doesn't matter what your age, where you are, you can always change the course of direction in your life. It is not easy, but it is absolutely feasible, very, very possible. I am a living example of that. I started using drugs probably when I was 14. I haven't used drugs in at least eight years, and I just like to let my mother, all addicts, all women, know it is possible. It may feel very, very impossible, but it can be done, and the world is just waiting to see you shine.
Michael McCarter:
41-year-old Ashley Leonard is from Memphis, Tennessee. Her message to her mom is simple, she loves and appreciates her.
Ashley Leonard:
It's a big deal for women to know as a mom, "You're doing a great job, we're here for you for whatever you need." And that's my mom. That's her top thing, she's very active. She has always been there for me every step of the way, all of my 41 years, helping me with my kids. My mother's gift, one year, she gave me, at the time, 15 gifts, one for each year... I was a mother, and my daughter at the time was 15 years old, so I had a gift for every year. So I just really want to let her know that I love her, I appreciate her, I haven't forgotten about her. I think about her all the time. I worry about her all the time. For as a mom, she's great. She's awesome. I don't even know... I don't have all the words for it. She's just the greatest mom ever.
It's very important for moms to know they're being seen, their work is not going unnoticed. Like I said before, as a mother, it is very hard, challenging, with kids of all ages, every stages. So just mainly making sure moms are seen, making sure moms are known they're appreciated, let them know any token would help.
Michael McCarter:
Meta Marie Griffin is 55 and lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She says that as she's grown older, she's come to see her mom in a different light.
Meta Marie Griffin:
I'd like to thank her for being a good model. It was hard when we moved back to Spartanburg, and she worked full time, and went to school, I didn't think she was any fun. But I learned the importance of getting an education, because she used to say, "It's a man's world," and I have to work harder. It was such a transition because we had lived in a nice neighborhood, and then when my mom divorced, we moved back into the house she grew up in, and my grandmother owned it at the time, and it took a lot of work. And she still lives there now, and it's a major difference, if you see the pictures. I know sometimes, my mom says I wasn't a good mother, and sometimes, our moms, maybe they feel guilty, they weren't there enough, but it's important to appreciate what they've done, and they are important role models in our lives.
Michael McCarter:
That's all we have for today's episode. This is a co-production with the Forum team at USA TODAY, where we invite our readers to weigh in, in writing, on a national topic of interest. If your submission is selected for print, we might invite you to add your voice to a future special bonus episode like this one. There's a link to Forum in the show description. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Michael McCarter, Vice President of the Gannett Opinion Group. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
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