I would 100% make the public-facing part in Squarespace, not Notion.

Notion can be your behind-the-scenes collection/organization system, but because your mom isn't particularly tech-savvy, I wouldn't make her navigate a Notion page at all. And aesthetically, you can make this feel much more special on your website.

I'd set it up like this:

Squarespace page → simple message form → submissions collected → optional Zapier → private Notion database

So visitors experience something beautiful and extremely easy, while you manage everything in Notion.

I can already picture the page 🥹

You could call it something like:

Letters for Mom 🤍
Words for the Road to Recovery

or

A Little Love for Mom 🤍
Prayers, notes & encouragement for her road to recovery.

Then a very short intro:

As my mom prepares for surgery and begins her road to recovery, I wanted to create a little corner filled with love she can return to whenever she needs it.

Leave her a note, prayer, favorite Scripture, words of encouragement—or simply remind her that someone is thinking of her. 🤍

Then the Squarespace form could literally just ask:

Your Name
Your Message for Mom
Email (optional)

Maybe a dropdown:

I'm leaving a...
Prayer / Scripture / Note of Encouragement / Get-Well Wish / Just Some Love 🤍

That's it. Do not make these people fill out a questionnaire. 😂

And here's the part I really love for your mom:

Instead of giving her access to Squarespace or Notion, you curate the messages for her.

You could periodically show them to her on your iPad, print some out, turn especially meaningful ones into little cards, or eventually create a small digital/printed "recovery book" of everything people sent her.

That would also let you protect her from anything weird or overly personal that somebody might submit publicly.

Before surgery vs. after surgery

I wouldn't make two different pages.

Make one permanent page that evolves:

Before September 14:

Send Mom Some Love Before Surgery 🤍

After surgery:

Send Mom Some Love While She Heals 🤍

Same URL. Same form. Same collection of messages. You just change a sentence or headline when the time comes.

And since you've already figured out Squarespace → Zapier → Notion for your donations, we could potentially do the same exact philosophy here:

Someone submits message on Squarespace → automatically added to your existing "Letters for Mom" Notion database.

Then your Notion could have:

Name | Message | Type | Date | Shared With Mom?

That last checkbox would actually be useful—you'd know which messages you've already shown/read to her.

I think this could become one of the sweetest parts of this whole project because you're giving people a way to support her that costs absolutely nothing. Someone who can't book you or donate $5 can still leave a prayer or write three sentences that might genuinely brighten one of her recovery days. 🤍