an ode to my hero

I’m interrupting today’s “Blog Everyday in May” link-up to share a story that is very dear to me. You see, today is an especially special day for my entire family, hence my decision to interrupt the link-up (which is supposed to be about things that make me uncomfortable but let’s face it, there really isn’t much that makes me uncomfortable and that’s not an exaggeration. I’m pretty comfortable about 98.7% of the time unless I’m wearing wool. I hate wool.). Anyway, as families all over the country are celebrating graduations big and small, it feels as though my family and I are celebrating not just a graduation, but a journey. Our story really begins in the 1950’s when a sweet little girl with crooked legs was introduced to the world. And thank goodness for that sweet little girl. Although this is when her story began, the journey I’m speaking of began a little later, after that sweet little girl had grown into a young woman. Fast forward to 1985 when she was set on a journey sparked by the birth of a sweet baby girl of her own (me!). I was born to parents who loved and adored me. At a time when they had very little and struggled to make ends meet, they never lacked in love for me and for my three beautiful siblings who later followed.

A lesson I learned early on in life is that we create our own happiness. My mother has always embedded this truth into our brains since before I can remember. And she has lived it to the absolute fullest. My father battled demons that were not his choice to battle in the first place. Having endured an abusive early life, my father loved as best he could however difficult it was for him at times. He was a good Daddy. I can honestly say that. But he will agree that he wasn’t, he couldn’t be at the time, a good husband. As hard as it was for me to accept as a young 8-year old girl, the best thing my Daddy ever did for my mother and my siblings and I was leave us. Leaving us was the single most monumental and important shift in my childhood and in my mother’s life. Facing life as a broken single mother, with 3 children under the age of 8 and a baby on the way, my sweet mother’s incredible journey began. Amidst utter heartbreak and tribulation, she had no choice but to create happiness, for herself and for her babies, during the most dire of circumstances.

At age 38, my mother made the decision to turn her bleak future into a bright one. She committed herself to her studies and set forth to finally earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Her struggles never ended there. In fact, at times the odds seemed heavily stacked against her. But she earned that degree and achieved her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. And then she went back for more. And she worked harder. And she dedicated herself again, eventually to earn a Master’s degree in education. And what do you think she did after that? Well, she went back for another one, of course.

The details of this story are so incredibly important yet I don’t have the ability or the tissues to tell it in it’s fullest. What I can tell you is that my mother’s journey is one to be so admired. She set forth wholeheartedly on this journey for not just herself, but for us too, her children. She’s proven to us that we really do create our own happiness. That although life is unfair and unkind at times, we are in control of our destiny, and oh how her destiny shines brightly today.

Someday I hope that she will share her story with the world because it is a story that is meant to be shared. A story of abandonment and forgiveness, trial and triumph, love and determination and most importantly, courage. Courage to fight the odds and courage to heal.

Today she and my sister, Lyndsey, will walk hand in hand to be honored for their academic achievements. My sweet mother, once a broken woman with hardly anything but her babies to hold onto will be named a Doctor of Philosophy, and if that itself isn’t a dream enough, she will share in her moment with my sweet sister who is creating a beautiful legacy of her own and who will be named a Master of Education. It is a moment my Mom, the greatest dreamer of them all, could not have imagined. A moment that my siblings and I will never ever forget because after all, she did this for us.

You’re my hero, Mama.