Mona Leaves-a

Glenn Close as Mona Simpson
Lance Armstrong as himself

"Mona Leaves-a" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 2008. The episode features the death of Homer's mother, Mona Simpson. Homer is reunited with his mother, Mona, but is not willing to forgive her for all the times she left him as a child. When she dies, a guilt-ridden Homer attempts to make it up to her by fulfilling her final wishes. It was written by Joel H. Cohen and directed by Mike B. Anderson and Ralph Sosa.Glenn Close makes her third appearance as Mona Simpson, and Lance Armstrong has a cameo as himself.

The episode is dedicated to the memories of Elsie Castellaneta (Dan Castellaneta's mother) and Dora K. Warren (Harry Shearer's mother). Also, this episode marked the start of yearly episodes to deal with women or mothers while airing on Mother's Day. In its original run, the episode was watched by 6.02 million people.

The Simpson family goes to the Springfield Mall. They all make suggestions on which place to go to, and decide to go with Maggie's idea to go to "Stuff-N-Hug" a store that lets children make their own stuffed animals. Bart finds a stuffed animal that can record your voice, and he gets an idea. When Homer walks by the toys, they start insulting Homer in Bart's voice. Homer gets mad and starts destroying the toys, prompting the family to go home.

Upon arriving, they find their door is open, suggesting a burglar is inside the house. Bart fetches Homer a makeshift weapon made from a cinder block tied to a chain that he calls "The Defender". Homer swings it around to threaten the burglar, but when the family smells apple pie, they discover it is actually Homer's mother, Mona Simpson. Mona says that her days of activism are over, and that she is staying for good. When she asks if Homer will forgive her, a shaken Homer angrily replies that he will not, because of all the times she left him as a child. Homer explains that he feels hurt and abandoned when Mona is not around, and does not want to feel that way again. Later that night, Mona tries to explain to Homer she has changed her ways, but, again Homer does not listen. Afterwards, Homer realizes he should have listened to his mother, and makes her a card as an apology: when he goes downstairs to apologize, he sees her sitting in front of the fire, and asks if she is asleep. When he then notices and questions that she is "sleeping with her eyes open", her head slumps down and Homer realizes that she has died.