My mom will never
get a Nobel Peace Prize for her life's work.
In fact, thanks to us kids,
she went almost three decades without having
much peace at all. There wasn't an award
or accolade when she hit retirement age, either. In fact, she got
cancer and is spending most of her retirement in pain. I don't remember
her when she was young, full of life and
energy, able to take on whatever I threw at her.
But I do remember
when I got punched by a bully in fifth grade, when
she drove down to the school and went to bat for me. I remember when I
couldn't do algebra in eighth grade, how
she'd spend hours at night trying to help me. She always gave me
everything she had, which is why it's so sad that I
didn't always respect her like I should've. In fact, by the time I turned
16, all we did was fight. I wanted my freedom. But she wanted to protect me.
Since then, we've
butted heads on and off for the last 20 years. Sometimes we get along. But sometimes we
fight like lions. I don't know why. Maybe relationships
are just hard. But my mom already
knows that, because when she was just four years
old, her parents split up. Her dad struggled with alcohol
and was pretty unstable. So one day, they packed up
their things and left him. My mom didn't see her dad
again until she was 34. My mom's mother wasn't
very stable either. And shortly after
leaving her husband, she gave both my mom and
her sister to someone else to raise. And that's how it went. My mother's parents were never
really present in her life.
And yet somehow, she'd
always been present in mine. Somehow, from her struggle
came 13 beautiful grandchildren who all have loving parents. Somehow, despite having never
been raised to worship God, she was always the
one in our house who tried to hear God's voice. Yeah, I don't know
how she did it all. I guess she just
chose to keep going, just like so many women
do all around the world. Despite the difficulties
they face--whether they have children or not, whether they're
married, single, divorced, or widowed--women get up every
morning and push forward. All daughters of
Heavenly Parents. All beautiful and beloved. My mother knew there wasn't any
prize at the end, any accolade to collect. But she did it anyway. And I may never
fully understand it. But that's OK. At least I know she gave
it everything she had.