Well, what can one put into words to truly express how the feel about their mom? My mom is wonderful. She is me and I am her, in varring degrees of course. My mom and I didn't have the typical "I hate you" period in our relationship. Sure, there were plenty of times she pissed me off and vice versa, but I have always respected my mom for who she is.
My mom did not have a picture perfect childhood. My Grandma had a total of 7 kids. Most of the time, she was a single mom. They all lived in a one bedroom single trailer in Grand Rapids, MI. Grandma worked in a grocery store for a tyrant of a man and his wife. They were mean to her. They Bullied her. They Pushed her around and my grandma didn't know any better. She worked from sun up to sun down for little to no money. Most of the time my mom or one of her older brothers was in charge.
At 9 years old, my mom was responsible for cooking all the meals, doing all the laundry, and keeping the house clean. Sometimes, grandma would disappear for days, only to come home with a new husband that would beat her or my mom and her brothers and sisters. My mom knew her biological father and loved him very much. When Grandma left him, my mom wanted to go live with him. He was a pretty well off chef and had a nice loving home, but he had Epilepsy, and back then, that was considered a "mental disease" and he was not allowed to have custody of children.
My mom was used, abused both mentally, physically, and sexually. She was in an out of foster homes, relatives homes, and finally had had enough at 14. She left home and didn't look back. She took on live-in babysitter and house cleaning jobs until she was old enough to go to Job Corps. At 16, my mom joined Job Corps and got her formal education. She was transferred to Ohio for their Histology program and that is where she eventually met my dad.
My dad was dating her room ate and after a year, she decided she rather liked someone else. My father and my mom's room mate had a date for the evening when she called to cancel and basically break up with him. He asked if she still didn't just want to hang out because since he was in the Army, and had to apply for time off of base and had already been alocated the time, he didn't want to waste it. My mom, as a joke, offered to go in her place and the other two both really liked the idea. My mom and dad have been together ever since.
My mom has shown me the importance of faith in yourself, of not stopping until you are happy and never settle for anything less the what you want. She has proven to me, that even when she was 14, had no job, no education, and no one to take care of her, she still had the abilty to work and never took public assistance. One of her favorite sayings is "I will scrub toilets with my bare hands all day long before I sit on my ass and take money from those who work. There are always toilets to scrub..." She has shown me, even in the absense of knowning it herself, how a mother loves a child perfectly.
Even as horrible as her childhood may have been, she managed to reconcile with her mom and they had a great relationship before Grandma passed. My mom is one of the few people who have broken the chain of abuse. She credits the Lord God for that. I would have to agree with her. With Him, all things are possible...
My mom is many things. She is my friend, my comforter, my council, and my mom. She knows all and is one of the few people I will go to for advice. She is a chef and I can't find one person that can cook better than her. My mom is larger than life, and yet sometimes, she seems so frail to me that I find myself needing and wanting to protect her.
She has never turned me away when I needed anything and I can only hope that someday I can be as good of a mom as she has been to me. I love you mommy!
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