My Daughters' Mother

    On August 25, this year my mother was 84 years old, we had a celebration for her, not like the one we had for her  birthday two years ago, but it was just as nice. You see, my mother believes any time she can hang out with her family, that is a reason to celebrate. In her words, she was blessed with 12 children, and she is blessed that they are all still living.

     I am her firstborn, and as long as I can remember this woman has been an inspiration to me. You know , when I was a child , I went through many phases, "I want to be like my mother when I grow up", rebellion, and that on and off Love/hate relationship. I think I came full circle after my first child was born. It was then that I realized what my mother had went through to bring me into this world, and I could not believe I had treated her so shabby, it was even harder to believe that she let me live long enough to have kids of my own. After growing into adulthood and becoming a mom to five children, there were lots of times when my mother was there. When I went to the hospital to have each one of my children, (can you imagine? after going to the hospital all those times). She was there when I lost my husband and I did'nt know how I would make a living and raise four children alone. But my mom inspired me when she told me, "if I can go it along with you 12 children, you can do it with four. And then in July 1992,  she was there when I was told that I had breast cancer, I was so scared, and there she was telling me that everything would be okay and it was I am now a 15 year breast cancer survivor. She has been there more times than I can count, and some where along the way, she also became a best friend to me.

    You know, I can hardly remember wanting to be like my mother when I grew up. but I was looking in the mirror the other day, and I could swear I saw my mama.

Happy Birthday Mama.