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Looking Hot, Mama

By Amy Wilson

AWILSON1@ HERALD-LEADER.COM

There sure are a heap of Mom Heroes out there. We asked you to nominate your mom for a special Mother's Day makeover — we asked for a few words of prose or poetry explaining why she was special — and we got scads of entries.

It reminded us that every mom is extraordinary and that there are hardly any criteria that can pick the one most worthy. So we picked four for hair and makeup stylist Leigh-Ann Mims of Voce to work her magic on. We hope you approve.

And we want to remind you that Sunday is Mother's Day; it's not too late to get her a gift of a makeover, or a makeover of your room, or a makeover of your manners or a makeover of your resolve to thank her every day for being your mom.

Brooke Richie, 24, Lexington. Mother of two with custody of her own 3-year-old sister.

Brooke's sister, Bethany Hoffman, 21, says she had ”no words“ to express her admiration for her sister, who is ”the strongest, most selfless person I know.“ On the day Richie got the makeover, she also graduated from Bluegrass Community and Technical College and received her nursing degree as well as a $500 scholarship from Central Baptist Hospital for student leadership.

Mary Leonard, 61, Lexington. Mother of three, grandmother of 5.

Daughter Megan Short nominated her mom because Leonard comes to Megan's house to help with her two children — an 11-year-old with autism and a toddler. Also, she never spends any money on herself. She hasn't bought new clothes since 1998, despite having just lost 45 pounds, Megan says. ”I have never known her to spend more than $7 on a haircut because she wants to make sure that all of us have things we need. I wish I could do something nice for her.“

Diana Shirley, 37, Cynthiana. Mother of four.

Daughter Samantha, 16, saw the work her mom puts in with two preschoolers, two teenagers and being a fourth-grade teacher. Add to that, Mom is coach of the high school cheerleading squad and a soccer fan for her son's middle school team.

Samantha says she ­”mysteriously“ found the entry form for the contest where her mother puts a lot of good newspaper reading material for Samantha. The hint worked.

Ying Juan Rogers, 44, Lexington. Mother of two.

Daughter Lilian, 17, did not do a very good job of following our 25-word rule, but she produced the most beautiful piece of poetry we could have imagined about her mother. Click here to read the the poem. It talks about the duo's weekly mom/daughter tradition of shopping at the Asian market. Let's just say a crab is no match for mom.