A Mother's Love and Support

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts" ~Washington Irving

Maria, what's wrong?

My mother always knew when something was bothering me. I guess it was her mother instincts. No matter what it was, my mother was always there for me. Mainly because in her eyes, even though I was one of the oldest children in the house, I was always the more fragile one.

Growing up, we were constantly moving, so I never had friends that I got really close to. I just had my siblings. However, while we lived in Vegas it was more obvious that my stepfather and his mother showed more favoritism to my younger siblings. It was so apparent that one day my mom sat with me in the car while we cried over the unfairness. I was the black sheep. 

That was just one incident in which my mom acknowledge how I was treated differently than my sisters and younger brother. There was another time when my stepfather threatened to kick me out of the house for no reason other than he thought I was becoming like my older sister. That truly broke my mom. She held me with tears rolling down her eyes, repeating that she would not let a man chase away another one of her children. 

My mom has always been the one on my side. She truly is my best friend. 

When I was sixteen, she even set me up on a blind date with her coworkers grandson just because she just knew I would like him because he played football and he had pretty eyes which is a plus. At sixteen, I could not believe that 1) I would be going on a blind date and 2) it was set up by my mother. But I guess my mother knew me better than I thought since it lasted two years.

Once it ended my mom simply said, "there are other fish in the sea".

I love this woman more than anything and the fact that I got to see how strong she was in going through breast cancer it amazes me. By now, I should mention my mother is in fact alive. She is the most silly and happy person sometimes I have no idea how, but she is. She is now there for me with my illness and I know with her by my side I will be okay.

She is my mother, my best friend, the queen of ratchets (as she learned to accept), my biggest support system. I do not know what I would do without her.