As I write this, I just know she’s going to kill me—because my mother doesn’t like unwarranted attention. She’s just that way. For her whole life, it’s always been about others. She gives with everything in her, and then when there is nothing left to give, somehow she finds a way to make something magical happen. She is where I come from. She made me who I am. My first friend, my best friend, my precious mother.
And of course, it’s Mother’s Day, and it’s important I say she’s perfect and beautiful and so nice—that’s all true. But really? My mother is a WARRIOR. She’s taught me what’s it like to defeat failure when the odds are frightfully stacked against me. She’s taught me how to outrun and outlast—to never, ever give up. She’s taught me how to have a backbone under fire, but to be careful with my words and tenderhearted. She’s taught me to love others fiercely and without regret. To be true to myself. To lend a helping hand. To show up. To do my best. To forgive abundantly.
I will know how to battle and beat cancer because she did. I will know how to live with MS and KEEP LIVING because she does. But saddest of all, I will know how to lose her one day, with grace and strength, like she did her mother so long ago. And I will know how to keep her close and her memory alive. I will do this because she built me from the ground up.
Left: My mother's mother. Right: My mother and me.
She’s made sacrifices I’ll never know. She’s given years I’ll never remember. And she did this because she loved me with a mother’s love, which knows no comparison.
But most importantly, my mother has taught me how to believe in the Lord with all my mind, with all my heart, and with all my strength. Many days, I fall very short of being all she’s raised me to be, and I know life is very, very difficult, but because of this woman, my mother warrior, I know what the ideal woman looks like—because she’s set the stage.
Mother, if I could do anything for you—anything at all… I’d give you my eyes so you can see how I see you.
Happy Mother’s Day. And thank you, a million times, for being my warrior.
