I remember when I was about to move to Memphis, all hell was breaking loose. It seemed like life as I knew it was falling apart.
And I was at a crossroads.
I could leave or I could decide to stay.
I was scared, I was fed up, and I was confused. If I stayed, would I regret it? If I left, would I be abandoning my family?
I think I was in my room, weighing my decisions and their consequences. One parent wanted me to stay. The other?
The other walked into my room, kneeled beside my crumpled figure offering a hug, and told me to, “Go.”
Not out of anger, not to push me away, but only to encourage me. She said, “Go...if it doesn't work, you can always come home.”
It was with her reassurance, I packed up what made up my little life into my old Sebring, and started the drive toward Memphis.
My life didn't turn out how I planned it. It turned out much, much better. And my mom had a hand in this beautiful life I have now—I found God because I moved here, I have a job and work at a place I love because I moved here, and I have a husband I adore because I moved here. And I had the courage to move, because she supported me.
My life didn't turn out how I planned it. It turned out much, much better. And my mom had a hand in this beautiful life I have now—I found God because I moved here, I have a job and work at a place I love because I moved here, and I have a husband I adore because I moved here. And I had the courage to move, because she supported me.
It's because of her support that I was brave enough to venture out on my own and create a new life two-thousand miles away in a new world. Little did I know that 10 years later the woman who gave me life and changed my life, by saying the right thing at the right time, would sacrifice her life in Stockton—the only life she’d ever known—to trust me and to join me in the life I’ve made for myself here.
In 2016, my parents bought a house, sold their house, and trekked across country to a home right down the street from ours.
And I love it.
I love that we get a second chance to love each other and live life with each other. And I'm so thankful for her encouragement and how she has always striven for a better life, giving her that perspective and ammunition to chase after answers for the "what if's".
Special things I'll remember:
I love that we get a second chance to love each other and live life with each other. And I'm so thankful for her encouragement and how she has always striven for a better life, giving her that perspective and ammunition to chase after answers for the "what if's".
Special things I'll remember:
- All my classmates in grade school always told me, "Your mom is so pretty!" when she would pick me up from school. And I'd smile, because she was definitely a pretty mom.
- She had a purple B.U.M. shirt that she loved and always wore until she didn't. And then I "borrowed" it from her. Whenever I see that certain color of fuchsia now, it always reminds me of her and that shirt/
- She also had a mocha color hoodie pullover. Any time I see mocha anything I think of her.
- She is a hard worker, and she is good at saving money. Like, way good. In secret places and accounts for rainy days. We were never wealthy growing up, but because my parents knew how to budget and save, we had what we needed when we needed it and did get to do cool things like spring vacations to Disneyland.
