The one thing I could not do was leave you without a mother's day post. So here I am, a mommy blogger writing what seems like an eternity to get to this point. What point do you ask? Well it's simple, the total appreciation of my Mami. Mami is a hard as nails type of mom. My relationship with her has always been difficult. I was always daddy's little girl. She was always very hard on me. Until recently I realized why she was like this with me.
Mami's own relationship with her mother, my grandmother was rather strained. She grew up thinking that her mother was her sister and that her grandmother was her mom. When her grandmother died when she was 12, the same age I was when I lost my dad. This is the moment she found out that what she had always known as secure and loving was gone. I can see now why she was not that kissy lovey mom, she didn't know how.
Her struggles being a teen mom and having her two oldest children taken from her by their fathers in a time when a woman living in a latin country had basically no rights, may have shaped her as well. Later when she had thought she found someone to truly love her and raise a family with, he let her down and left her and my dear sister. This is the pivotal moment in her life when she truly became the mom I now know. She knew no one in the United States, but she wanted a better life for her and my sister and took an airplane with money she had saved for years and headed to her future home. One word comes to mind when I think of her....TENACITY.
How does someone go through all that she did only to pick themselves up and move forward? That's easy, the love she had for her child. Like I said she is not demonstrative and that always made me feel like maybe she didn't love me. When Sarge died, I would hear her cry night after night, but she never let me know exactly how hard it was. She didn't have a job, she had me to raise, and still had a house payment, yet I knew nothing of that. I always had food in my belly, new clothes for school, a roof over my head, and the latest gadget that my little heart desired. She would babysit the neighborhood kids at home so that she would always be home for me when I got home. She knew I needed security. She may not have kissed me enough, or hugged me enough, but she taught me to be the woman I am now.
When things get tough with the kids and being a single mom, I think about Mami and all she went through. She taught me to hold my head high and never fall apart even when inside you are. Thank you for toughening me up and letting Sarge nurture my softer side. Your love has taught me that there are different ways people express there love, and their is no right way to love.
I may be the kissy huggy mom to my kids, but I am also the first one to discipline them. My Mami taught me that you can love your children, but you need to prepare them for the future. Thank you Mami for being my fortress and my example. On a side note, she is the most kissable, huggable Abi (grandma) ever!
Whatever your love language is, express it always and forever. Happy Mother's Day!
Te quiero Mami, gracias por tu amor infinito.
