What I Hope To Be

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."  ~Tenneva Jordan

Even as a very young child, I recognized the selflessness my mother possessed. For almost 20 years, she put her dreams on the backburner to raise my five siblings and myself. My oldest sister is 37, and the youngest child is my 19 year old brother. I remember her coming home from her job at a local factory every day, greeting each of us with a hug and a warm smile. She never complained.  She attended every school play, was the family cook, and our personal "taxi" as she liked to call it.

After my grandmother passed away, my mother become the full time caregiver for my grandfather. There were 12 other siblings in her family, but without hesitation, my mother stepped up. She would bring him groceries, keep his bills in order, and make sure his health checks were always up to date.

During this time, my mother finally decided to do something for herself. She went back to college to pursue a career in Nursing. She never told us she had wanted to be a nurse, but I immediately knew she would be wonderful at it. After all, she had raised six children (practically on her own), been the caregiver for my grandmother while she was sick, and taken care of my grandfather when he no longer had my grandmother to do so. My brother, sister, and I were all still attending school when my mother started college.

I remember smelling the coffee brewing at 5 am every day, hearing soft whispers  as she flipped through her medical terms before a big test, seeing her pace back and forth through the kitchen every night as she tried to correlate a plan how she was going to juggle work, kids, school, and life at home. She never let on that she was scared or worried and always made sure me and my siblings were taken care of before anything else. It took three years, but she graduated on the dean's list with top honors. I have never been so proud of her and never seen her so happy.

With her nursing degree, my mother went on to do what she was "meant" to do. She works for a nursing home taking care of elderly people in the last days, weeks, and months of their lives. I went to visit her the other day and seen her crying. One of the elderly women she took care of and became very close to, passed away . When I asked her why she does what she does she simply answered "Because I want to make their last days as wonderful as I can.". I hope someday I can be as selfless and caring as she is.