To say that mothers do a lot for their children is an understatement. They often put their child’s needs first over their own no matter what. From giving birth, to raising them, to giving advice, a mother’s job is endless.
A lot of the time, a child looks up to their mother for everything throughout their childhood because she has had more experience and wisdom as she’s lived through more stages of life. Although moms do get joy from watching their child(ren) grow up, that does not mean the work she does can go unnoticed.
In addition, even though growing up is not always pretty, at the end of the day all a mom wants is for her kid to be happy and healthy. Many of the first lessons we learn as a child comes from our mothers or fathers. This is crucial to our development and affects who we grow up to be.
Lots of people have different relationships with their mothers, and that is normal considering every single relation itself is individual to that person. Difference of personalities can affect this too. But when that child grows up, they eventually leave to either go right into working a job or go to college.
When people move to college, it is common for them to branch away from their parents and start to not tell them as much about what’s going on in their life. However, for me, that is unimaginable because of how close my mom and I are. My mom and I have always had such a strong bond from the time when I was little, but it deepened in a special way during my junior year of high school.
The August before my junior year began, my dad had to sit me down, and tell me that my mom had breast cancer. My life flashed before my eyes as I was not expecting this. But I also knew that my mom is the strongest person that I know, my role model, and my everything. After all she had done for me growing up, day in and day out, I knew she could battle this and make it out on the other side.
I did not bother her much during this time as she was preparing for surgery and taking new medications. I did not want to add to her stress with any problems that I was facing because to me, my problems seemed trivial. I did not tell her that I was suffering from amenorrhea and started feeling depressed. My mom went through her procedures, was recovering from the surgeries, and doing well. A few months later, I finally broke down to her telling her how I had lost all sense of meaning of life and that my physical health was in shambles.
My mother, while still recovering from all the mental and physical effects from having breast cancer, dropped everything to find me the help I needed. The next day, she started asking her
friends for good references for a therapist. She did a ton of research and did not stop looking until she found one that she felt was good for me.
But most importantly, the day after I broke down to her, she sent me a picture of these flowers from my bedroom, all pretty and full of life. But there is a backstory to these flowers. They were given to me for my birthday a month prior, and they had begun to wilt and decay as time passed. I had sent my mom a picture of them when this happened because I was very sad that they were just sitting inside of my room, in their declined state.
Once I opened up to my mom about my struggles, she went into my room, got some water for the flowers, and life slowly re-entered the flowers. It was truly mind-blowing that these flowers that had become so barren grew back to life. She sent me a picture of the flowers and said that everything can be recovered with a little help, no matter how wilted or decayed. Just as these flowers grew back into this beautiful arrangement, my ability to be happy would come back too, it might just take time and a little help. This gave me so much hope that no matter how dark the world was for me at that moment, there was a light out there.
I will never forget what my mom did, dropping everything during a deeply challenging time for her to find me the help that I needed. THAT is truly exemplary of a mother’s love for her child. My love for her is immeasurable and she is my everything.
We talk everyday despite me being at college now, and I text her all the time with updates. She is my go-to person whenever I need advice and has become my rock for me. It also enormously helps that she has gone through a lot of the struggles that I am facing at this time in my life and knows what I am feeling.
As for the flowers, they signified this beautiful light in my life that led me out of a mentally challenging time. No matter how much one is struggling, with a little help, they can grow and flourish again. Life always has the potential to become beautiful no matter how lost someone is.
My very own mom taught me this lesson with a simple text message that meant to me more than words could ever express.
As people grow up, people can sometiems begin to feel like they don’t need their moms as much. Though this is true in the literal aspect such as they can take care of themselves, learn to drive, and get a job or move away to college, that does not mean a mother’s work is finished. In fact, I think I talked to my mom more in high school and now than I did when I was in middle school.
Most of the time, mothers are there for their children through thick and thin and can guide them through the hurdles thrown at them, or at least get them the help to make them feel better. It is a beautiful thing. I’ll never forget what my mom told me when I was 18: The best part about being a mother is getting to watch a piece of yourself grow up and go out into this world.
A mother’s job is difficult, but rewarding. I feel this is one of the many beautiful aspects of life.