“We don’t need a stinkin’ man!” That’s what you always said as we made the fourth and fifth holes in the wall trying to get the picture hung just right. Or when we’d climb on the counters to reach something up high. Or move heavy furniture with every ounce of strength in our 5-foot frames.
You never planned on being a single mom. You never planned on having your entire life turned upside down with two young kids at home. You never planned on sitting your two kids down and telling us that our dad had decided he didn’t want to be married anymore and wasn’t coming home. You never planned on sending your kids to daycare so you could enter the corporate world to provide for our family.
But you did it. And you rocked it. And whether you realize it or not, we saw it and we learned from it and we are who we are today because of it.
Statistics show that kids from divorced homes are more likely to have emotional and physical problems later in life, suffer in school, etc. But you always said that you refused to let us become a statistic. We both graduated college, have great social lives, marriages and involvement in church. Because of you.
Thank you for showing me what true strength is. That it’s not about if you can open a jar, but more about if you can open your heart. Thank you for showing me what it means to be courageous. To “fake it til ya make it” and get done what needs to be done to succeed. For teaching me how to bake and eat more of the cookie dough than the actual cookies.
You taught me that my relationship with Christ is the most important one, and you gave me the peace of knowing you were always on my side; my biggest fan who never missed an opportunity to watch me cheer or dance. Thank you for teaching me that in any situation, I truly am too blessed to be stressed.
Thank you for showing me what it means to be a mom. It wasn’t until I became a mother that I realized just how much you could love someone so quickly. I hadn’t realized how difficult and rewarding motherhood is. And I can’t imagine how hard it would be to do it alone. But you did it. And I can’t thank you enough for it.
Thank you for being my mom, my friend, my laughter, my daily phone call, my hero. I love you most.
[box]This is part of our Strands of Love: A Mother’s Day Letter Series. Read more posts in this series…[/box]
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