Last semester, for our magazine, I wrote a beautiful article dedicated to my mom. Unfortunately with moving my copy of the magazine was destroyed. I tried to salvage it but it couldn’t be done.
Since then, I’ve been reworking the article to make it extra special. This one is for you mom.
My mom and I have a special bond. I’m her first (and only) biological daughter — my sister and I are half-siblings. When I was born, her entire world changed. My sister was already a teenager when she came into my mom’s life, so she didn’t get to experience the baby stage with a child hands-on.
My mom says she fell in love with me the moment she saw me, which isn’t a rare occurrence. I didn’t get to be with my mom right away when I was born. She couldn’t hold me for five days after I was born, making her yearn to hold me.
She finally got to hold me on July 30th, 2004 — also known as my mom’s 34th birthday.
After that, we were inseparable until I left for college. She would take me to my afterschool activities, take me with her for all her errands, and be home with me when she wasn’t working.
My mom had to work a lot of holidays growing up. She worked in a hospital and would take her turns working on Thanksgiving or Christmas. When she would work Christmas Day, she would still make it special for me.
When the world shut down in 2020, we really spent a lot of time together. She was furloughed and didn’t want to stay in the house. So, we would take long drives through the City of Buffalo or take our dogs on several-hour-long walks. The key to this was that we would do this together — just the two of us.
As I got older and ready to leave for college, my mom followed the steps with me. She took me on every tour and even watched me fall in love with St. Bonaventure University. She congratulated me when I committed to Bonaventure and held my hand as I unpacked my freshman year dorm room.
She truly has been there for every major milestone in my life, and I couldn’t ask for anything better than that. My mom isn’t necessarily the type of mom to be fully involved in the activities I do. She was never a PTO mom or a consistent team mom when I was cheerleading.
She was a team mom once, and she still tells me how much she didn’t like it.
Her thing was more to show up to all my games, competitions, fundraisers, etc. I didn’t care that she wasn’t handing out pizza at a homecoming dance or helping sort cheerleading uniforms before the first game of the season. I cared that she showed up — and she did.
Unless it was a rare circumstance, she was always present. Every home game, competition, pre-function pictures, and choir concert, she was there. Knowing she was in the audience or in the crowd made me feel just as special as the kids whose moms organized or volunteered at the event.
She still does this while I’m in college. She makes time to come watch me dance in our shows each semester, even though they’re during the week.
As I’m growing into an adult, I cherish the bond I have with my mom. I don’t always show it, but I truly do. I know I won’t have this forever, and there are some that don’t have this now, but I don’t want to lose the bond while I have it.
I love you, Mom.