The story of my life and my family’s is a very interesting, complex one. My mother graduated from college with a degrees in Theatre and Communications. She then traveled up and down the east coast performing in plays and working various acting jobs.
My mother met my father while working for a small theatre company in Virginia. They dated for a very short time. After they broke up, my mother moved to Los Angeles to try and break into television acting. She had roles on shows like Seinfeld and Melrose Place, and was finally starting to see her dreams become reality. It seemed as though everything that she had been working towards all these years was starting to pay off.
The only problem was that she was pregnant. With me. My mother began to get morning sickness on Hollywood sets. Technically, I can say that was in an episode of Seinfeld because I was there. She realized that she was pregnant and she had a tough choice to make. She was a single woman in Hollywood with little money. She was not in a relationship with my father. She was just starting to see her dreams come true and all of her hard work pay off. She could choose to have this baby, or choose to continue to live the life that she had always wanted.
She chose me. Now that I’m older I am starting to realize how amazingly brave my mother’s decision was. I honestly think that I would never have been as selfless as my mother if I had been in the same situation. She didn’t have a plan or a stable support system. She decided that she was going to be a mother and do the very best that she could with what little she had. She made the decision to let my life become more important than her own, and for that I will be forever grateful.
My mother packed up her suitcase and left California for Virginia, where my dad lived at the time. She told my father that she was pregnant with his child. I am very lucky that my parents were extremely mature people. They decided that it would be best to not be together romantically but my father said that he would help raise me and try to be the best father that he could. Both my mother and father’s families were very supportive and have loved me and helped guide me my whole life. Both sets of my grandparents and all of my aunts and uncles said that that they would try to help my mother in any way they could. My mother now had people that she could rely on to help raise me. But she had to say goodbye to her dreams. She would never act or sing professionally again.
So my mother went back to college, but now as a single parent with a daughter in pre-school. She was going to become a Speech Language Pathologist. She got a bachelor’s and master’s degree and still found the time to be a great mother. During the earliest years of my life we were on government assistance and relied on family and friends for help. During the weekends I would go and stay with my father’s mother (I call her nana) so my mother could write her master’s thesis. My nana was such a key reason that I had such happy, healthy childhood. I have amazing grandparents and aunts and uncles who all helped me become who I am today.
My mother graduated from college eventually, and we no longer needed government assisstance. We moved into a nice, big apartment, and then a nice, big house. I went to an elementary school where my mother was the only parent that had never been married, and kids where confused when I said that my father had never married my mother. In May of 2015, I graduated with highest honors. I received a special college scholarship from my high school. I was treasurer of the student government and editor of the school newspaper. I was given a special tassel to wear to showcase my accomplishments.
My successes in life are because I had a mother that read to me every night without fail, even when she was exhausted. My successes in life are because I had a mother who would sit down with me everyday and help me with my homework. My successes in life are because I had a mother who would sometimes work up to three jobs to make sure that I had everything I needed.
Now I’m in college and I am a Journalism major. Writing about my mother is the best way that I know to honor her and all that she has done for me. This Thanksgiving, I know what I’m thankful for. Thank you mom. Thanks for everything.