I want to take some time today to talk about a very special person in my life who has influenced me in so many ways.
I am so lucky to have gotten the Mom that I did. My nature loving, flower-child mother raised me to be the person I am today.
One thing that I am particularly grateful to her for is my love of the written word.
My mother would read to my sister and I every night, from the time we were in our cribs, until I was well into my pre-teen years. She would bring us to the book fairs and let us take home a new book we would read together. It was my grandmother who first put a Harry Potter book in my hands, but it is my mother’s voice that brought so many of my favorite characters to life. She was the one who discovered A Series of Unfortunate Events. She opened up the Wardrobe door to Narnia for us, and flew us across the universe with A Wrinkle in Time.
It wasn’t just my passion for reading that she helped me cultivate. When I wrote my first poem in the third grade, I was so excited. It was such a rush. People read it and said that it was good and I should keep working on it. My mom brought me to the store and bought me half a dozen tiny notebooks that I could keep with me and jot poems in.
I’ve long since given up poetry, but as I grew older, the notebooks grew larger, and I was constantly writing stories; I would play with my sister and imagine new lives for us, then write our imaginary adventures later. I filled blank notebooks with childhood stories, and all the while, my Mother supported me. From the time I was eleven, she has been saying the I should write a book. It is because of her support that I write.
I can never give her enough thanks for the support and influence she’s given me, making me the person I am today. Every day I see more of her in myself, and I am so grateful for that. Because if I grow up to be like my Mom, then I’ve grown up to be a really amazing person.
Happy Mother’s day to all those mothers reading this, and a special Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom. I love you, you are amazing.
Yet Another Starving Artist 