My Mom

Growing up my Mom was a misfit. She dropped out of school due to the way she was treated by bullies and some teachers. Although she dropped out she persevered and got her GED before her class had even graduated. At sixteen years old she moved out of her family home to live with her boyfriend Josh and his mother. Then at seventeen she and Josh had saved enough to get their own apartment, and she worked two jobs to get ends meet. Shortly after this she and Josh broke up and she met my father, just three months into their relationship she ended up pregnant. Rather than getting an abortion, she realized she had to step up to the plate and deal with the consequences of her actions. 

My mom had her first child, Adia, in 2002 at the age of 18, she was just one year older than I am right now.  From there she had me at 21 years old, and went on to have three more children; Lea, Miles, and Weston. Her adult life has always surrounded taking care of her children, she never actually got to have a life of her own after having my older sister. Yet she holds no resentment and is the best parent she can be.

Every day she takes care of my youngest brother Weston who’s three, while her fiance works and I’m at school, today was no different. I got home and saw Weston sitting on the ground along with Mom, they were painting rocks. Weston ran off to get another toy while she kept painting. I asked if parenting is how she expected and she said “ I think parenting is easy. The hardest part would be the teenage years but you get through that with communication, right Addison?”. We both chuckled a little before Wes interrupted wanting a juice box. When she came back she said “The best part of parenting is seeing your children achieve, and watching them learn and grow. I love always having company and a loud house, you don’t like it, but it’s better than silence.” We chuckled again, she knows me so well. 

At this point Weston was starting to lose patience so she had to go give him attention, I also had plans so before I left I asked her for one piece of advice going forward. “I’d say always listen to your mother but you never do. I believe that you can do anything you want in life as long as you don’t give up. If you want something fight for it.”. That statement has stuck with me since she gave up everything to be a parent and has been an amazing one. That’s why with time and effort I hope to someday be just as great as my mom. 

“Mother and child” by .robbie is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.