Person’s Story

How do you sum up such an awesome mother and person into a couple minute song? It is going to be tough but I will try. My mother is a true bad ass! She has been through so much in her life and deserves to be recognized for overcoming so many life hurdles and being an amazing Mom. When she was a teenager she met a guy and fell in love. She became pregnant for me and quickly found out that he was abusive and was not capable of being a parent. My mother made the choice to get out while she could and she soon became a single parent. My mother was raising a baby and doing the best she could. A short while later she met a man that she married and ended up having two children with. As luck would have it he was more interested in getting drunk than parenting and thankfully she made the decision to leave that relationship as well. She was now a single mother of three. She worked endless hours to provide for us. We didn't have lavish things but we always had what we needed! My mother struggled even though we didn't know it until we were much older. My mother never let us know how stressed she was or how tight money was. You would have never guessed it by the way she carried herself. Even though she was a workhorse when we were younger she was very present in our lives and education. I remember many of nights my mom knocked out from exhaustion in the chair in the living room still in her work uniform. I swear I don't know how she did it! My Mom raised all of us to adulthood and in return she has been blessed with 9 (soon to be 10) grandbabies! She is just as amazing as a Grandmother as she was a mother. She is VERY involved with all of her grandkids and they all adore her. I couldn't have hand picked a better Nana for my kids if I tried. My mother has always been the type of person to help everyone. She would give the shirt off her back to someone if they needed it. My mother owned an Adult Foster Care Home and spent 20+ years taking care of other people's loved ones with disabilities. I can't count how many times she has supplied Christmas gifts to families who otherwise wouldn't have had any as well as personal items they needed and groceries. Having such a huge heart comes at a price though. She has been burned more times than one person should be in their life. Our family has experienced a lot of loss and grief also however I believe this had made us the tight knit family we are today. We are all extremely close to one another and I believe being raised the way we were and by the amazing mom we had is what helped make that possible. My mom has always lived her life for other's and 1.5 years ago she decided she wanted to make a major life change for herself. She had bariatric weight loss surgery. She has lost 160+lbs and is stunning! She has always been beautiful but she wasn't feeling beautiful anymore. She has lost a ton of weight and is able to do things now that she couldn't do before. We are excited that she gets this "fresh new life" and can do things she has been missing out on! Watching her go through this journey has been awesome. There have been some bumps along the road since the surgery but she is overcoming them all. Nothing slows this woman down. Her stubbornness comes in handy for something I guess My mother is feisty, stubborn, sweet, hilarious and generous as hell. She is fiercely independent and a "go getter". We can call or text her anytime of the day or night and she will listen to us cry or vent or offer unsolicited advice. If we call her and need something she will drop everything to help us. She has never let her past define her. People who know her are lucky. You don't find many people like that in a lifetime and I am so honored to call her my Mom!!