Why I Love My Mom: Mother's Day 2014

Last week, we asked our readers to submit short articles thanking their moms in the spirit of Mother's Day. We received an outpouring of beautiful and moving testimonies describing gratitude for physical and spiritual mothers. It was incredibly difficult to choose "winning" entries! After much deliberation (and drying our eyes), the Women Today editors have decided to award the following prizes:

Grand prize: Nina Dumornay, age 15, Montreal (published below)
Second place: Christian Duran, Los Angeles
Third place: Yamina Collins, New York; Sara Kimura, Los Angeles; Denisse Tristancho, Los Angeles, Shelby Downs, Fort Collins, Colorado; Jenna Allen, Boston

Thank you to everyone who wrote in. All entries will be published in the following weeks; their words are the best prize a mom could ask for!

Why I Love My Mom: In Memory of Devorice Jean Collins

Editors' note: The following is one of the third place entries in the "Why I Love My Mom" series. Click here for more >

My beloved mother, Devorice Jean Collins, passed away on September 28, 2010. Death, however, has hardly diminished the importance of her life, and it certainly has not diminished my feelings for her. 

On the contrary, her absence has made my love for her grow even stronger.