Charlene Morella displays photos of her mother and the blue apron mentioned in her story, below.

This is Charlene Morella’s Mother’s Day Tribute to her Mom, who passed away May 6, 2002, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Thanks for such a moving entry, Charlene!

Dear Mom,

I hope you know how much I love and miss you everyday.

When I think about you, I picture your beautiful white hair and smiling face.

I can still feel the touch of your soft hands when you touched mine, and how you gently patted my check and still called me “baby,” even as I approached my 60th birthday.

There has not been a moment in my life when I didn’t feel nurtured by your unconditional love and acceptance.

The vision that most often comes to mind is seeing you in our kitchen wearing the blue-striped apron that I gave you many years ago for Mother’s Day.

This room was the hub of your existence.

My most vivid memories are the image of you in your apron, taking a tissue from its pocket to dry my tears, or of you dispensing one of your early-morning hugs as I groggily joined you for breakfast before school, or of us sitting down together at the kitchen table for a mother-daughter talk.

The striped apron now hangs on the back of my laundry-room door.

It’s faded and has obtained a gentle softness from its countless washings.

I don’t have a wardrobe of aprons as you did. I don’t need them. I have your apron.

There are many things in my home that once graced your home. But none evoke such deep emotion in me as that blue-striped fabric hanging in my laundry room.

It is a symbol of all the good parts of my life growing up, and the woman that made it so.

You, my Mother, were my beloved role model and the very first love of my life.

So tonight as I go to prepare dinner, first, I’ll wear my apron in a silent tribute to you.

We will be eternally bound together by its tattered apron strings.