Collection of Short Stories

Ode to My Mother

Imagine you are four years old, the family is the most important thing yet it is ripped from you. Therapy is probably in your future but imagine your mother. Crying her nights away and working three jobs to put food on the table. This person is my mother.

Her childhood wasn't easy, her mother was older, tired, and frankly, it was the 60s. There wasn't kindness in my grandmother's words but my mother always knew she loved her in her own way. My grandfather, I never met but he was the fun one that you could count on for a laugh. My mother was always young-looking and kept to herself, dates weren't important and she was working full-time and going to school. At 37 she got married to a man from a bar and had me. The best part of that marriage was me, her words not mine.

My father left because he wasn't happy, or that was his excuse, he found it in another women's arms so my mom found her worth without him and has never looked back. The downside was that man put her in so much credit card debt she was swimming in papers of last notices and threats of lights being shut off. I didn't know until college though, she hid it from my toddler self as she should, cleaned houses on top of working a full-time job and being a single mother. Eventually, she was able to get out of debt but the depression was always there, I remember hearing her cry herself to sleep weekly and faking nightmares so she had someone to be with. The fear he would take me was strong to the point we had early mornings at my aunt's. After all of that, she still stood her ground and parented me, hid the fears from me, and still came out on top.

Now at 60, we are back in hard moments. I developed chronic illnesses and she is again working two jobs trying to pay for me and her, she gives up coffee, dinner out, and fun. Instead of early nights and the thought of retiring soon she stays up late helping me with homework and making sure my blood sugars are normal. My mother is strong because even in all this pain and hardship she finds a laugh, finds a joke, and makes everyone laugh. She is the one I picked because in times like now strong women are easy to find but the ones who go unnoticed are the ones working the hardest. She taught me that laughter doesn't fix everything but it does make things a little better. May it be a phone call or a lunch she will always remind me of that, that laughter isn't the cure but a medication we all need. Everyone needs a good mother and I lucked out in this world with her, she willing will teach you the things I have learned and add to our small family.