Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Only Gift I Have, For Mother's Day

Because I’m a starving artist, I don’t often have the means to treat my family to the wonderful things they deserve. And when holidays like Mother’s Day come up, I don’t know how to give without going even more broke.
This year an opportunity came up to write an essay with the grand prize being a day package to Olympus Day Spa.
Here is the essay I wrote. (ps. I WON! pps: You want to win with the wife/girlfriend Get her a package here)
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My mother has always and ever been a fighter, and a lover. A fighter because she has an iron will to accomplish the impossible. A lover, because no amount of hardship or mountains she had to cross would ever dampen her spirit of generosity.
When I was a little girl, I lived in a fantasy world. Most children do, but mine was filled with Tigers, and Elephants and magic. My mother was a dresser for a stage show at the MGM Grand in Reno, NV. I was the stage brat running around under dancers feet and weaving in and out of the catacombs of a theater that was very much a little Neverland.
I never knew how poor we truly were.
I remember one Christmas distinctly. We had a huge roast turkey and all of the trimmings. There were presents under the tree and a fire in the hearth. She took my hand and led me and my younger brother into a homeless shelter where we spend the morning serving others. For me it was a game. And when we came home I won the prize of a wishbone. What I didn’t know that my mother had barely been able to afford the turkey, let alone any presents. We were at the bottom of the bottom for income, surviving on table scraps while she worked full time to support myself and my younger brother. But to us, it was ever an adventure. Rain or shine, she loved life and made sure we did too.
Years later I would finally understand it. How she would go without so that we could have. How she would smile so that we would know that everything was ok. I remember living in a dream world because my mother made it so. She allowed us to be kids. She allowed me to be a young girl who discovered the world on my own terms. She held me when I hurt, taught me when I was wrong, and led me to be the best person I can be.
My mother taught me to be a woman who loves first, questions second and commits to the ones I love with an undying devotion.