Mother’s Day Flash Sale
Plus, I am giving away 10 gift subscriptions
Hello, brain health ambassadors. Here in Italy, everyone is getting ready to celebrate La Festa della Mamma. I’m in Alghero, a charismatic beach town on the northwestern edge of Sardinia. The window boxes are brimming with flowers and the pastry shops seem especially busy. I can’t wait to see what everyone is eating on the big day.
In honor of Mother’s Day, I am offering 30% off annual and gift subscriptions. Offer ends at midnight on Sunday, May 11, 2025. Plus, I am giving away 10 gift subscriptions. Find the details below.
This is my first Mother’s Day without my mom.
I am having a tough time writing about how this feels just months after my mom passed away. Lonely, for sure. But also unmooring. I am definitely missing her, but am also still tremendously relieved that she is at peace after suffering from Alzheimer’s for many years.
My sister-in-law said it best: It's as though the world has shifted on its axis in some barely perceptible way.
My heart goes out to all of you in the BHK community who have lost moms to Alzheimer’s or another dementia.
As you already know, there are layers of loss over many years. It’s complicated, and messy. It plays out with excruciating slowness. Then, it happens all at once.
This Mother’s Day, I am thinking about all of your moms, and all of you who are moms. By now, most people know that women are more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease than men. And, that at least half of these cases are preventable. That’s one reason I keep plugging away at my mission: to help everyone take the best care of their brains.
Enter to win a gift subscription
I am giving away 10 gift subscriptions. Perhaps one of these would be perfect for your mom, daughter, sister, grandmother, or a friend? To enter, tell me something about your mom in the comments below. Or something you wish you could tell her. You must be a paying subscriber to leave a comment. That’s it! The first 10 messages win.
I’ll go first:
Whenever my siblings and I asked my mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day, she always said the exact same thing: I just want you kids to behave.
This always puzzled me. After all, I thought we were pretty good! Now looking back I realize how difficult it must have been to raise four kids, all a year apart, while your husband was constantly working. And, yes we did get into a lot of trouble. (Except me. I was usually up in the willow tree reading a book!)
Mom, I am sorry we were such an unruly bunch. And I honestly can’t remember if we pulled off behaving for an entire day. It’s a small request, one that I hope we made good on.
Good luck everyone! And remember, all of my brain health retreats are great mother/daughter experiences. There are a few spots available in my retreat at Rancho La Puerta this June; find the details below.
Love,
Annie
Brain Health Retreat Updates
Want to join me on a Brain Health Retreat this year? Your brain will thank you! My spring retreats are fully booked, but there are a few spots left in each of these retreats in Mexico, Italy, and Costa Rica. For detailed information about each trip, click on the links below or tap on RETREATS on the homepage.
BHK Retreat at Rancho La Puerta, Mexico June 7 to 14, 2025. Join me at the Ranch during Brain Health Week for a special retreat within a retreat. To register or submit questions, contact Donna Sher at 858.449.3672 or email her at dsher52@hotmail.com.
Sardinia’s Secrets For a Long and Healthy Life, October 12 to 19, 2025. Just announced! Join me this fall to explore Italy’s blue zones. Find all the details here; call 877-298-9677 for more information and to reserve your spot. This Brain Health Retreat was featured in National Geographic Traveller UK.
Costa Rica in February 5 to 10, 2026: Spots are filling quickly for this jungle and beach retreat. Learn more and reserve your spot here. Health Kitchen is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Brain Health Kitchen is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
My grandmother (hope that counts) passed away from Alzheimer’s this past year here is what I read at her funeral and wish she could have heard: Grammy was a woman I always looked up to. Growing up just across the street, I was fortunate to have her close by. She had a special way of making me feel cherished, even though she did call me ‘the mouth’ because she could hear me “even with her windows closed”.
Some of my favorite memories of her was when she made Easter dresses for me or when she helped me design a Christmas tree skirt, that I still use today. She would measure me while I held still and she talked with pins in her mouth. I was always afraid she was either going to stick me with a pin or she going to swallow one. I loved laying on the daybed in her sewing room while she worked. Sometimes we talked and sometime the rhythmic noise of the machine filled the room. I was amazed how fast she could sew! Just being with her made me feel content.
I’ll always remember the joy of decorating her Christmas tree with ‘the boys’. Being with our cousins and laughing about how she would burn the taco shells every year. Plugging in our ‘house ornament’ and getting excited about Christmas. We were not always excited about opening her handknit gifts, but I think she knew that and would always sneak a toy or game in there too. What I wouldn’t do now for a handknit sweater in my size to remember her.
I loved cooking together in her kitchen. It was never hurried; it was a time for connection. I was always amazed me how carefree she was. She would just take a dirty coffee cup out of the sink to measure water. She never followed a recipe and she had so.many.cans. in her cupboard.
Her garden was a place where I would sit and listen to her stories about ‘the olden days’, her eyes lighting up as she spoke. I remember her laughing so hard when she told me about the time her son ripped off his snap up pants on the soccer field to discover that he had no shorts on underneath.
I unintentionally followed in her footsteps in a lot of areas. Gettjng married young, having 4 (original) kids, 3 boys and a girl, then did foster care and adoption. She would often have conversations with me about being a mom to kids who weren’t biologically yours and I always left those talks feeling understood, seen and known.
She always called me “hunny,” always looked in my eyes, and always made me feel like I was the only thing on her agenda when spending time with me.
Grammy, you filled my life with consistency and love. Your spirit will live on in my heart, and I am so grateful for the time we shared. You will be deeply missed.❤️
My mom had a stroke when she was in her mid 30s just a couple years after my dad had passed away. I was just 10 years old at the time. My brother and I had to grow up quickly and help out with our little sister who was very young. We had lots of help from family and friends but as the years went on it became harder and harder. She was expected to live only 6 months but amazingly lived to be 78 before passing. She spent all her post stroke years half paralyzed and challenged. Throughout all of it I know I wasn’t always the best at being happy and positive because it was challenging. But now in my later years, I look back and feel so sorry for my attitude back then. I’m sorry Mom, I wish I would have done better. I really miss my mom and now realize just how hard it was for her too. Happy Mother’s Day Mom! XO I love you!