My Mother Always Said...

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to write. When I was a child, writing fiction stories was a way to escape reality and find myself in a new and magical place, away from the difficulties of growing up. Writing has been a way for me to find peace in an ever-changing world. Writing is a constant.

Traumatic experiences affect most everyone’s lives, at some time or another, and writing can be a good way to cope. For me, nothing was more tragic than the 12th of April, 2011. It was on this day that I found out that my best friend, my mother, had cancer. Two short days later, she passed away.

This tragedy hit my family hard. We didn’t know what to do without our rock, the cornerstone of our family. Not only had we lost our mother, we had lost a teacher, a leader, a sage. My mother was an inspirer. She was kind to every stranger – every person that she met. Although poverty kept her from pursuing a college degree when she was young, in her adulthood she was a self-learner. My mother read every book she could get her hands on. She educated herself in everything relating to health and also taught herself about spirituality. She was a humble and strong spiritual leader, and instilled her faith in a higher power in me and my sisters. Her religion was kindness. While she was alive, she taught my sisters and me many inspiring and encouraging lessons about life.

One such lesson, she taught me when I was about 4 or 5 years old. We were at a family gathering at my paternal grandmother’s house. I don’t remember why, but I was crying. My mother went into the bathroom and reemerged with a hand-held mirror. She sat on the couch, put me on her lap, and told me to look into the mirror.

“What do you see?” she asked me.

I was still crying, but I was curious. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Do you see a happy girl or a sad girl?” she asked.

“Sad,” I sniffed.

“Now, smile,” she told me.

I mustered a smile through the tears.

“That’s better!” she laughed. “Now you see – just like the mirror, whatever you give in live, you get back. If you’re frowning at the world, that’s what you’ll get back. If you’re smiling, you’ll get back smiles.”

This lesson, like many others that she taught us, has stayed with me throughout the years. In an effort to continue her legacy, my passion has become writing about the lessons that she taught us girls. My passion now is to write down all of the lessons that she taught us and compile them into a book. There is nothing better that I can think of to write about than this.

My mother always has been and always will be my greatest inspiration. I have made a promise to her posthumously that I will be as much like her as possible. Because of her, I am a better person, and I want to inspire and encourage others with kindness and humility in the way that she did. I want to create this book in order to share the incredible life lessons that she taught us, and in my own way, blaze a new trail that passes on to both young and old the gifts of life and lessons about kindness, humility, strength, and love. It is my hope that whoever reads this coming book is inspired by the love and light that was instilled in me by my mother, and will pass it down to the ones they love.