We want to thank everyone who submitted an entry for our Mother’s Day Essay Contest. It was so hard choosing winners from all of the wonderful submissions.

1st Place – Taylor

My name is Taylor and here is my entrance for the Mother’s Day Essay Contest: My mother, Rachel Fantasia Crockett, is a hero to many, but she’ll never admit it. She’s worked in the ER as a Certified Emergency Room Nurse for nearly 40 years. She’s 65 and currently fighting on the front lines of Covid-19, as she believes her calling in this world is to help others. Growing up in a small town, my mom used to commute into the city to help people as an RN when I was young. It was not uncommon for my brother and I to not see her for large swaths of days because she worked odd hours in the hospital. It never bothered us, for myself personally it had the opposite effect. I had such tremendous respect for my mom. Not only did she work full-time in an incredibly emotionally and physically demanding job, she was also an amazing cook, gardener, had a great sense of humor, volunteered at our school, encouraged us to take in the arts, incredibly respectful of nature, and most notably, was the most empathetic person I knew. When I was 13, she worked her tail off to be relocated to a newly opened trauma center in our town so she could be closer to home. The result of this meant that throughout the remainder of my scholastic experience, kids would approach me that I barely knew to tell me that they had recently been to the ER for one reason or another. They always had the same story: your mom took care of me and made me feel safe. For a shy, biracial kid like myself who normally might not be approached by some of the popular kids in my school, it ingrained in me the impact of humanity that radical empathy could have… because I knew it wasn’t just gratitude they felt for the nursing work they did. My mom has an amazing ability to make people feel welcomed, loved, and accepted. She does not judge in the ways society have deemed worth judging, as a passably ‘white’ (Italian) woman marrying my black father in a time when that was not as acceptable and raising two biracial children with vast of knowledge of the civil rights movement and the real issues people deal with.  She never does anything to take care of or treat herself and I’d love to do just that for her by taking her to the spa when this is all over. She deserves it a million times over. Thank you for your consideration!

2nd Place – Sarah

Four and a half years ago, my stepmom Lynn got hit by a car while she was out on a run. The impact was so great, she was launched 30 feet from the crash and sustained significant, lasting injuries. Her initial recovery lasted for months, and to this day, even after several surgeries, she still has limited mobility. 

About one month after Lynn was getting back into her normal life, her son Patrick who is a Marine was shot during a routine training exercise in Hawaii just days before deployment. Lynn rushed to be by his side, despite everything she’d been through in the months prior. Patrick’s injuries were life-threatening and Lynn dropped everything to spend months ensuring he received everything he needed during his recovery. 

Shortly after Lynn returned home from caring for Patrick, my Dad / her husband–a stage IV lung cancer patient–went into cardiac arrest and was hospitalized in the ICU.

An event of this nature would crush anyone, and even now it’s still difficult for me to even begin to comprehend how Lynn has chosen to wake up every day, continuing to serve her four children (plus me!) and my Dad in addition to her other family and friends.

Lynn is a domestic violence victim advocate where she has worked for over a decade. She’s dedicated her career to helping others who need a strong voice, specifically to underrepresented women of color in economically challenging situations. 

One Christmas, she invited me to go to an event called Shop with a Cop where one of her victims gets to bring their kids to Target for a fully-paid shopping spree. I hear Lynn talk about her work all the time, but to be able to see the impact she made in just one family of the hundreds she has served really made me realize how special she is. 

Lynn is truly one of the most selfless, resilient, and tough women I’ve ever met. Throughout all of the trials she’s endured over the past several years, she still has an incredible sense of humor and a positive attitude.

She inspires me every single day, and I am lucky to know her, let alone call her my stepmom. And, if that wasn’t enough, I just found out a few months ago she raised four children all without drinking coffee. I guess she only recently started drinking it, which totally blew my mind. But then again, it’s Lynn, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

3rd Place – Vivienne

One of the greatest gifts a mother can give to her children is hope, especially during challenging times. My mom, Kim Nguyen, is a beacon of hope to not just our family, but to vulnerable communities around us. After my brother and I left home for college and our careers, my mother retired.  Her “work” actually increased significantly because her nurturing nature and medical professional background positioned her to easily take on volunteer jobs as a domestic violence call center volunteer and as a spiritual minister to the sick and dying in local Everett shelters and hospitals. For my mom, hope means doing as much as possible so that those who are lonely or in despair know and feel that someone else is there. In darkness, my mom wants to bring light via her singing, her listening, her gentle presence and her medical care. Hope is presence and my mom’s decisions to be present on the phone for long hours to ensure a woman’s safety or to be present to a community member who feels isolated in a hospital room give others hope for the next chapter.

My mom deserves a day at the spa because she is always present for others and has spent the last several “retirement” years being even more present for women and families that need hope. While the community shines brighter because of her hundreds of volunteer hours, we need my mom to stay strong, healthy, and beautiful. It is now my hope that she has an opportunity to enjoy and take care of herself. Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom and to all Moms out there!

Thank you Olympus Spa for this opportunity to reflect on positivity especially when the news and world are so focused on fear, anxiety, and worry. Let us have hope for the coming months so that we can return to the spa and be well!

For me, I cannot wait for another body scrub from Grace to help me feel alive, renewed, and full of joy again. I hope my mom will be able to experience the same!