Melinda Finster
Name	Melinda Finster
Gender	Female
Species	Human
Occupation	Gardener
Interests	Gardening, playing with her son
Relatives	Chaz Finster (Husband, Widower) Chuckie Finster (Son) Shirley Finster (Mother-in-law) Marvin Finster (Father-in-law)
Friends	Chaz Didi Stu Betty Howard Charlotte Drew Chuckie Finster
Enemies	(none known)
First Appearance	Mother's Day (mentioned only and seen in flashbacks) also Chuckie and Charles visit here at the graveyard in one episode.(Acorn Nuts & Diapey Butts at the 10:40 mark)
Last Appearance	Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (seen in photos and mentioned only), Super Hero Worship (Mentioned only)

Melinda Finster was Chuckie's beautiful mother and Chaz's first wife. In the episode Mother's Day, it was mentioned that she died of an unknown illness.

Melinda was an expert gardener, as she planted most of what grew in the Finsters' yard. She was also very creative with squash. Little was known about her personality but it is assumed that she was a loving, supportive, and patient woman and that she loved both Chaz and Chuckie dearly. When Chuckie shows Chaz her pictures, everyone suddenly goes quiet.

The love Chuckie had for her was to the point that she gave him courage when he needed it, such as when he saw a butterfly. She assured him it was alright and he smiled, welcoming the butterfly. When she soon fell ill and was sent to the hospital, she began keeping a journal that she wrote in often. The last thing she wrote, most likely before she died, was a poem just for Chuckie.

Throughout Mother's Day, Chuckie is searching for a mother, but is unsuccessful. Finally, Chaz talks with Didi and suggests he tell Chuckie the truth.

Contents 1 Mother's Day 2 A Poem to Chuckie (From Melinda) 3 Looks 4 Appearances 5 Rugrats In Paris 6 Notes

Mother's Day

Melinda made her first appearance, though only through mentioning between Chaz and Didi and photos, in the Rugrats episode Mother's Day. Chaz had been going through a box of Melinda's belongings and decided to give them to Didi, so that he could hide them from Chuckie, who apparently had been getting into things lately. Didi hides the box in a closet.

Later on Chuckie mentions his mother to the other babies; however, he only knows her as a dream. After some attempts to find a mom for Chuckie on Mother's Day (Spike, Lil, and Angelica), Angelica puts the babies in time-out in the closet. They unwittingly go through the box and Chuckie finds his mother's photo. Not knowing it's his real mother, he decides to give it to Chaz for Mother's Day (believing Chaz to be the closest thing he has to a mother). The group, including Angelica goes quiet when Chaz realizes it's Melinda's photo.

At first Chaz tries to put Melinda's things away, until Didi confronts him about needing to share the things with Chuckie. Chaz finally admits he's afraid Chuckie will miss his mother. Didi sympathetically tells him that they can miss Melinda together. Chaz listens to Didi and tells Chuckie the photo is of his mother. He spends the rest of the day explaining that she was a gardner and planted the flowers in their yard. He then reads the last poem Melinda wrote in her diary, which she kept when she was in the hospital.

After reading the poem, Chaz puts the poem and Melinda's photo in a two-picture frame. Chuckie somewhat understands his mother's poem and tells the others his mom is in the flowers, clouds, grass, sun, and in the wind.

A Poem to Chuckie (From Melinda)

My sweet, little Chuckie, though I must leave you behind me

This poem will tell you where you always can find me.

When a gentle wind blows, that's my hand on your face.

And when the tree gives you shade, that's my sheltering embrace.

When the sun gives you freckles, that's me tickeling my boy.

When the rain wets your hair, those are my tears of joy.

When the long grass enfolds you, that's me holding you tight.

When the Whippoorwill sings, that's me whispering, "Night, night."

Looks

Melinda was a pale peach color. She had a pair of white eyes with black pupils and orange hair (in Rugrats in Paris, it is brown). She also has freckles, which have been passed down to her son. 

Appearances

The first time she was mentioned and was seen in memories (Chuckie thought the memory was a dream) was in Mother's Day. (Finsterella) cameo

Chuckie and Chaz go and visit her during autumn because it was her favorite time of year; she loved decorating gourds. (seen in Acorn Nuts And Diapey Butts).

Rugrats In Paris

In the second Rugrats film, Chaz begins to realize Chuckie is somewhat lonely for a new mom, as becomes evident during Grandpa Lou and Lulu's wedding reception. The DJ requests for the kids and their mothers to dance together. Chaz notices that Chuckie watches sadly while his friends are with their moms. Melinda is seen only in photos and Chaz talks about how he still misses her. It is also shown that she made Wawa, Chuckie's teddy bear, for him.

Chuckie sees a cloud formation of him and Melinda in the song "I Want a Mom" during the plane sequence of the movie, showing how much he'd like to have a mother.

After Coco tricks Chaz into marrying her, she intends to have Wawa thrown away as she saw the toy as disgusting. However, after the wedding is stopped, Chaz sees Coco is nothing like she pretended. Soon after, Chaz and Kira fell in love and got married. During the wedding, Kimi asks her new brother if he misses his mother. He admits he does, sometimes. He adds that he knows she's looking over him from above. He then tells Kimi that he's lucky because he has two moms to look after him now. Chuckie joins Kimi and dances with his new mother, Kira, at the reception while Chaz dances with Kimi.

Notes

• Ironically, in the earlier seasons of Rugrats, Chuckie and Stu mention Chuckie having a mother -- this occurs in the episode Real or Robots and by Chuckie in the episode Chuckie vs. the Potty. She wasn't mentioned afterward, though this may have been a goof by the writers.
• When Chuckie presents her photo to Chaz, all the adults go quiet, implying that in life Melinda knew Stu, Didi, Howard, Betty, Drew, Charlotte and even Minka, Tommy and Dil's maternal grandmother.
• It is also possible Melinda could have been around for Angelica to get a glimpse of her. This has never been stated.
• It is possible Melinda had no living or close relatives, as Chaz has never mentioned his wife's relatives to visit or contact.
• She was mentioned in the All Grown Up! episode Super Hero Worship.
• It is widely known that anyone who grew up with Rugrats cannot deal with the emotional feels on the topic of Chuckie and Melinda.
• Even though Dil didn't talk throughout the series of Rugrats, he knows that Chuckie lost his mom because in Super Hero Worship, he says to Tommy that Chuckie knows how it's like to lose someone, his mom.
• It is unknown how Dil knows Chuckie's mom died.