Lucky Friday the 13th

Recently, I have been reflecting upon the people that have had a profound influence on my life. Today I would like to turn that focus to a very special person, my mother.

My mother is one of the strongest people I know, and has shown me how to be a strong woman. My mother raised four amazing children on a tight budget, yet she made sure that we always had everything we needed. She raised us to have respect for our elders and for ourselves. She taught us that we could be anything we wanted as long as we worked hard and never gave up. As I grew up she often said to me, “Rachel, you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” Those words have stuck with me, and through the dark and the hard times I remembered them, and they gave me strength. Without her support I would never have had the courage to go back to school and follow my crazy dreams.

I don’t know if she is aware of this, but my mother is a wonderful story teller. As a child, I loved to have my mother tell me stories, and my favorites were the ones about her childhood. I still enjoy her stories. She can tell the same stories over and over, and I still love them. 

My mother is extremely well organized. For example, every week she writes a menu for the meals she will make that week and from that she writes her grocery list. When Jeff and I got married I started to do the same thing. Also, she has a cleaning schedule that she follows every week, and when we were kids she would give us chores every Saturday that we HAD to do. I hated thatJ. Her and my father saved, and sacrificed much in order to ensure that my sisters, brother and I had the best possible future. She has always been determined and unwavering in her course of action, and so, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, I knew she would be up to the challenge. It was a tough time for my family, but my mother was strong and determined to not let it beat her. I am very proud of her for being so brave! Through the Chemotherapy and all of the treatments she was a very strong and positive person.  She didn’t feel sorry for herself; instead she was positive and determined. Today she is healthy and strong, and last summer her and my father came out to Seattle for my graduation. It meant so much to have them here supporting me.

I am ever so grateful to have been raised by such a strong woman, and I try every day to follow her example.