My Mom: a Woman Worthy of Admiration

Just for the record, my mom is rad.

We didn't grow up with much--in fact, at many times in my childhood we had nothing--absolutely nothing. But my mom never stopped trying to provide for us even though very few people were thinking about her.

Isn't that the truth? When you become a mom, everything becomes about your kids. You lose time to think, to write, to draw, to shop, to see friends, to have a career, to go to school, to spend with your spouse. Everyone sends gifts to your kids and never to you. When times are tough, people ask how the kids are doing, not how you are doing.

That's how it was for my mom. She married too young and had kids young too. It's sometimes hard for me to believe that at my age, my mom was already working on her second kid! I feel bad that she missed out on so much in life. She never got to travel, to pursue her artistic side (my mom is an amazing artist!), to really live on her own or fall madly in love.

Instead she met my father, became infatuated by his long hair a love of motorcycles, and married him thinking things would work out. Not long afterwards he was coming home drunk, wasting his paycheck at the bar, shooting holes in the ceiling with his shotgun and beating her for fun.

A lot of women stay in those kinds of relationships, too afraid to leave, too petrified to go through life alone and single.

Well, my mom isn't one of those women. She is the bravest woman I know. She took a chance and took us away from that life and gave us a future; she put her own happiness on the line so that we would have a chance at it. She never settled again for a man who didn't respect her and worked damn hard to make sure we could make it as a single family. Admittedly, we didn't always do so well but she never gave up.

My mom is a woman wholly dedicated to her kids and her work. Even now, when we're both grown up and living on our own with our own families, she still takes care of us. She still loans us money, still sends us cards and letters, still has a room for us in her house even though she lives alone.

My mom is my hero. She is a STRONG woman. I've always been proud to be one among a long line of strong woman on both sides of my family but she is by far the strongest of them both. My mom has guts. My mom is a feminist worthy of admiration. She didn't have to burn her bra or climb the corporate ladder--all she had to do was say, "No! No one can tell me what I can and can't do and no one will make me feel like less of a person by the virtue of being a woman!"

I'm often told by the people who know me best that I am a strong woman. Well, I learned it from my mom. Most people in my family will never know the trials she went through to raise us, but I know and I'm not going to forget! I'm not going to overlook her or her sacrifice!

My mom is my hero. We may not have always got along or agreed on things but she never gave up on us or on the dream of happiness, and I admire her so much for that.

Thank you Mom and Happy Mother's Day.