Today is Mother’s Day, a difficult day for me and many other people who no longer have a mom. But I’m not going to do a post about how much I miss my mom and how I’m sad. Instead I’m going to celebrate her.
My mom was the strongest person I’ve ever met. I’ve never seen someone command such a presence in a diminutive frame. She was tiny but mighty.
I have experienced things over the past year that I never imagined – several friends and my partner betraying me, my live-in boyfriend becoming my worst nightmare by picking on me for months and suddenly leaving me and dating one of our mutual friends immediately afterwards. He turned into my worst nightmare in every way. The icing on the cake was losing my job as a result of being so devastated about these personal losses. I’ve wished I could call my mom every day throughout this ordeal. My mom was always in my corner, she was my biggest cheerleader and advocate.
Behind every strong woman is herself and often a strong mom. I want my mom to be proud of me and know that I’m okay. I got a lot of great qualities from my mom, including believing I can do anything, standing up for myself, being generous and kind to others and working hard.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself to think about everything that I’ve gone through this year, my home changed, my friends changed, my relationship ended, my job changed. I don’t do well with change but I had no choice.
Sometimes you simply must adapt and while you can’t control the actions of others you can control your own actions and the reaction that you have to others actions. It took me a long time to realize this. When I met my ex, I thought I finally found the one. I ignored many red flags, including the fact that he did not want a family.
My mom passed away from multiple myeloma – a rare blood cancer. She battled it for nearly 20 years. Like I said she was strong and determined.
My mom’s best friend said something to me that clicked – she said your mom would never have approved of you dating a man who mistreated you, and she would have left. She was referring to me not being strong enough to leave him earlier despite him being mean to me and telling me I was disrespectful and not classy. It put everything in perspective. My mom wouldn’t have put up with how he treated me for a second. That helped me move on.
I think of you every day. Miss you mom.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, dog moms, cat moms, etc.