insidetoronto.com

In Toronto Community News' Mother's Day contest, we asked youth 10 to 13 to write a letter of thanks to their moms. The response was great with each letter showing judges that our young readers have great moms.

After narrowing the letters down to the Top 3, our judges chose a heart-felt letter written by 13-year-old Megan Evans from Scarborough to her mom Jackie.

Congratulations to Megan for winning a hot pink, shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof Stylus 850 SW Olympus camera ( www.olympuscanada.com ) as well as a one GB card, valued at about $325, for her mom.

The following letter is from Megan. Visit insidetoronto.com for more letters.

 
Dearest Mom,

This year for Mother's Day I didn't know what to get you so I decided to write you a letter thanking you for everything you've ever done for me.

Thank you so much for my younger brother Colin who is difficult to play with sometimes but is still one of the best things that have ever happened to me. Thank you so much for supporting me in times where I felt like my world was crumbling.

Thanks for all the help with the hard times I have had at school. You were always there to listen to me and tell me how to cope with the stuff that was going on. You were always there by my side in whatever trouble or grief I was in. I don't know what I would have done without you then.

I think I get all the good grades because you've always been there to help me or to teach me how to study properly to get good grades.

Most of all I'd like to thank you just for being my mom. Just because I can be a little stubborn sometimes doesn't mean I'm not grateful that you are my mom. I'm always grateful that you are my mom because I wouldn't want another person in this whole entire universe to be my mom. You are the best mom there has ever been.

You are amazing at everything you do. I mean in art, in writing, in anything you try or anything you do. You're always the best. You are amazing at the stain glass you do. All of the pieces you've ever done are the prettiest things I've ever seen.

I only wish that when I am older I will be half as beautiful, spectacular and amazing at everything I do as you.

The best part of my day has always been spending time with you. Even if it were us just talking or just sitting together and watching television.

I cherish every moment of it because you are there.

I long for the day when I can say to my children what my mom was like and how beautiful I thought she was inside and out. I worry about you all day long because I love you so much.

Every passing moment I spend with you I feel like our relationship as mother and daughter grows bigger and bigger.

I thank you for being there to treasure every passing moment with me and to fill every day with love wherever you go. You've made my heart bigger than it could ever have been. I thank you for doing that for me and I'd like to thank you for so much more.

You're loving daughter,

Megan Evans

P.S.: I love you so much never change no matter what.

 
• Here are some other letters that were submitted for our contest •

Dear Mom,

Thank you for being my best friend.

Thank you for always taking care of my brother, sisters and I.

Even though you are considered by everyone else to be my stepmom, I consider you to be my mom because you have done so much to take care of me and to raise me. Thank you for helping me with my school work. Thank you for staying up late with me and helping me finish my projects because I have left them until the last minute.

Thank you for listening to me when I have a problem at school. You taught me how to deal, ignore and deal with a bully at school. For all these nine years you have been an excellent role model and a positive influence to me.

I trust you with all my secrets. I thank God that you are a blessing in my life.

Thank you for treating me the same as my bother and sisters. Nobody in the world could ever take or change how much I love you.

Thank you mom for being the best mom in the whole world. Happy Mother's Day. I love you.

Your daughter, Wendy

– Wendy Illescas, North York

•••

Dearest Mom,

Thank You

I was looking for a unique way to celebrate Mother's Day, May 11, 2008, other than presenting my Mom with the traditional chocolates and flowers. When I saw the contest in The Etobicoke Guardian, inviting readers to write a letter of THANKS TO MOM, I knew I had the answer.

Mom, how can I count the number of ways you deserve my thanks? The scope of this letter is insufficient to cover it all, so I am listing a few:

Thank you, Mom for always finding ways for me to achieve my potential by enrolling me in the gifted program at school. You have helped me with my homework, when I occasionally have trouble understanding it. The program has taught me to be independent, respectful of others and to work hard at my goals.

Thank you for taking the time to accompany me to basket ball practices and games even though you were tired at the end of a long working day. Sometimes it meant giving up your weekends for out-of-town games. But you do it with enthusiasm, because you wanted to bring out the best in me.

Thank you for learning to snowboard at Whistler last Christmas so you could join my brother and me on the mountains. Your courage, as you challenged those high peaks, was an inspiration to me.

Thank your for organizing a Survivor Party for my last birthday complete with invitations, cake, games and loot bags to capture the theme. It was one of my best birthdays, which I will remember for years to come.

You are never too busy to provide a shoulder to lean on or an ear to bend without being judgmental. While I may not verbally express my thanks, it does not go unnoticed.

Mom, you have been one of the people I admire most.

You are strong, compassionate and very intelligent. You remain calm under the most trying circumstances. I see you as a sympathetic, energetic and funny woman. You are willing to sacrifice anything for your family. Your ability to make the time to take care of yourself and your career goals is an example to me.

Thank you for the love and caring you have shown my brother and me over the years, and for being our Mom. We could not have asked for a better mother than you. In fact, you are the Best.

I love you, Mom.

Your son,

William

William Lawrence, Etobicoke

 •••

Dear Mom,

I look forward to Mother's Day every year because it is a wonderful opportunity to tell you how very much I appreciate all that you do for me. I know that you had a good job in an office before I was born and that you enjoyed working and made many friends at that time. I appreciate very much the fact that you gave up your job to stay at home and take care of me and my sister.

I especially want to thank you for being strong enough to leave your home country where you had family, friends and work, to come to Canada so that my sister and I could have a great future. It was a hard choice for you to have to leave all those things behind, especially because your Dad was so sick and died three months after we arrived here. I know how much you would have wanted to be there to help your Mom and family, but couldn't because of your responsibilities here.

When we came to Canada, I was four years old and my sister was only one. You did everything you could to make us comfortable and help us to settle in to our new home. You must have been missing your family very much at the time. You found out about different fun things to do in and around our neighbourhood, and soon we started to feel more at home, as we visited parks, the zoo, bowling alleys, farms and learned lots of fun stuff.

Every day you give us a nice home to live in, three good meals a day and send us to school with all our homework done, so that we may have a chance to succeed in life. Thank you for buying me clothes and toys and helping me with my homework. Thank you for helping me with my chores and sometimes doing them for me when I forgot to do them or didn't get time.

I also appreciate the extra-curricular activities you enrolled me in and the time and energy you spent taking us to and from the events by bus, because you didn't drive. Even the weather hardly ever stopped us from going to a skating lesson or soccer or dance class or the library or whatever.

I feel I really got to learn a lot from the different things I've done so far, such as martial arts, summer camp, music lessons, swimming and cooking class.

Thank you for being at my side when I needed help, and for making us laugh with your funny stories and voices. Thank you also for looking after us when we've been sick, and have given you sleepless nights.

For everything you've done, Mom, I want to say a big THANK YOU and have a Happy Mother's Day.

Keith

– Keith Watts, Scarborough

•••

Dear Mom,

This is the hardest thank you letter I have ever had to write - not because I can't think of anything to say, but because there are soooooo many things to thank you for that I don't know where to start.

The really obvious things to thank you for are: running me around for all my different activities (lessons and soccer games) and get-togethers with my friends, putting really tasty, healthy, homemade food on the table, taking me to the doctor when I'm sick, getting me braces so I could have straight teeth, and giving me a nice, warm house to live in. I love my safe home.

But then there's the less obvious things, like helping me love music so much that I couldn't imagine how boring life would be without it, and being nice to my friends (they all say they like you - how cool is that?!) and always encouraging me to do my best instead of hiding away. Thank you for helping me be less shy and to be braver about trying new things. I never would have done half the things I've been lucky enough to do without you saying "You can do it!"

And then there's the things to thank you for that most people wouldn't notice: you never hit me (you yell at me sometimes, but always apologize after), you're not embarrassed to talk about stuff (even puberty) and you respect me and ask my opinion on things (and then even follow my advice).

Sometimes you're even like my friend. And even though you never wear perfume, I really like the way you smell.

Thanks for not seeming to mind that I'm beginning to be a bit of a snarky teenage. You always put my needs first, and even though you are a single mom and work hard all day long at work and home, when I feel bad, you're always there to give me a hug. And how come you always wake me up in the morning with a nice back rub, even though you're really tired yourself from being up late the night before doing stuff (usually for me)?

There's probably not really enough money around, but we always seem to have enough. You've made me appreciate what we have, instead of wishing for things we don't have. hank you for teaching me how to save money - now I have more savings than you.

The biggest thank you, though, is for adopting me while you were living in Guatemala. I have a whole other world because of you, but you've also let me keep a part of my birth mother and country, too, so thank you for that.

When I get mad at you, which isn't often, sometime I think which of my friends' moms would I trade mine for, and then realize I wouldn't trade you for anyone - so I must have the best mom in the world!

Love, Magali­

– Magali Toy, Bloor West Village