My Biggest Hero: My Mother

If someone were to ask me who has been the biggest inspiration in my life since the day I was born they would without hesitation get the name Ruby Lee Spencer as the response. Ruby is my mother and for Women’s History Month I wanted to write a tribute to her for how she inspired my entire life.

The place of importance my mother Ruby holds in my life goes without an explanation needed. I mean she did give birth to me and raised me, but what I didn’t realize until I reached my adult years is that she was the biggest influence over every one of my most memorable characteristics. Through the best and worst times I shared with my mom, every moment shared was a lesson I learned from and grew into as I became and am still becoming who I was meant to be thanks to Ruby.

The first major trait of my mother that rubbed off on me was her mixture of being both an introvert and an extrovert at the same time. If someone was to ask my mom was she more likely to go out a lot or would she rather stay in they would’ve never gotten a straight answer. The reason why is because my mom was big on both. My mom was a woman who put a lot of emphasis on her children staying in and spending family time together, while she would read and watch tv, but she also would take us traveling a lot where she would meet and interact with complete strangers and have the best time and interestingly enough I became the same way.

Fast forward to the present day and I am my mother’s mirror image of introversion and extroversion together. I have a lot of days where I like to go hang out with my friends and even travel as she always did, going on vacation with my loved ones is something I have always enjoyed doing, but then I also have my days when I want to just sit in the house and relax every other day and read and write, which brings me to my next point.

Everyone who knows me knows that my biggest goal in life is to be a writer, which is funny considering how much I hated reading and writing when I was a kid. My mother Ruby always made me and my sisters read and write on a daily basis, especially when it wasn’t school related because she knew it was important to our growth and development as individuals. Ruby herself was a big reader and a writer on a daily basis. I realized I was meant to be a writer when I made it to college and at first I didn’t know where the aspiration to be a writer came from, but then I thought back on life with Ruby. I realized in retrospect that I actually loved all those years of reading and writing. It all made me a smarter and better person. It was also reflected in all the music I listened to and the movies I watched with my mom as well. The composition of my craftsmanship as a writer was created by Ruby.

The principles of life that matter most to me are the greatest inspirations I take from Ruby. Values of life like my relationship with God, the heritage of where I come from, my relationship with my family and my friends and even my daily habits are all what matter most to me because of the emphasis my mother placed on these principles when I was a kid. She always taught me and my sisters to stay in faith through the best and worst of times. She loved taking us to our family reunions and making sure we were always close with our family and knew the history of where we came from. Even the simplest of traits about me like always wanting to wake up early in the morning and take advantage of the time in a day comes from her because it was something she never played around with, a lot of which I attribute to her coming from a military family and having served in the military herself.

Always and forever will my mother Ruby be the biggest inspiration in my life. I didn’t realize it until after she passed away when I was 17, but everything I do and love comes from the part of my mom that she instilled in me and I will always love and appreciate her for it, thanks mom.