The Queen of Everything

Screams and giggles and peals of laughter filled the living room, bursting out of me as my mom chased me, caught me and pinned me down playfully, demanding, "Who's the Queen of Everything??" as she tickled the breath out of me until I yelled back, "You are! You are!"

My mom is the queen of everything - the empress now, actually, and she has taught me almost everything I know. Her example has shaped who I have become as a woman and mother myself. Along with other lessons, she taught me that strength can be soft and quiet, that kindness and respect are marks of intelligence, and that our relationships with those we love are the most important to cherish and cultivate in our lives.

My mom has always been the strongest person I know, but her strength isn't showy or flashy or loud. She doesn't life hundred-pound weights, but she lifts her burdens and carries them along with her own. She may not be able to tow a truck with her teeth, but she has dragged herself out of bed every morning to go to work at jobs she hates to that she can for and give to her family. 's not an Olympic-fast runner, but she has held fast to us and held us together even during times when she herself was falling apart. Her strength shows up every day in the details, in the doing of small over and over and over again even when she's weary to her bones. Her strength is soft, quiet, and determined. I hope that I can be as strong as my mom for my family.

My mom is also one of the smartest people I know. She didn't finish college, but not for lack of wits. She chose to care for her family instead. has always excelled in her professional career. Most of all, she treats everyone she meets with kindness and respect. I have seen, through her example, how smart to give those to - how it benefits them and ourselves. It moves conversations and sparks collaboration and fosters cooperation, making projects and tasks lighter and easier for all involved. It encourages the exchange of ideas between all people, even those who disagree, when each interaction is approached with kindness and respect for each other. My mom's intelligence has overcome ignorance times because she is smart enough to work with others and help them work with her, through the way she treats them. I hope that I can be as smart as my mom in dealing with all .

My mom is the most loving, giving person in my life. Her life and example have taught me that there's nothing more important in this life than the relationships we share with those we hold dear. When I was young, and my siblings and I would get into arguments, often our main consequence was that we got to sit cross-legged in front of each other with our knees touching until we sincerely apologized. Inevitably, as we sat there staring at each other, obstinate or angry or irritated, our negative feelings would gradually melt as we realized and remembered how much we loved the person in front of us. Both would admit fault and ask for forgiveness. my mom's guidance, her words and example that led us to this conclusion. Even as I've grown into an adult, I've watched her hold our family together through constant and consistent invitations to family get-togethers, mediation in our increasingly complex little spats, and an outpouring of love for us that is tangible in its ferocity. I hope that I can live up to the love that she has shown my siblings and myself, and similarly hold my family together with love.

My mom has four children she carried and gave birth to, but she has so more that she has mothered over the years with her generosity, dependability, strength, intelligence and love. She is the best mom anyone could ask for, and I am so grateful to have her example and her lessons in my life. I wouldn't be who I am today without the strength she's exerted on my behalf, her intelligence guiding and teaching me, or her love and care in helping me foster loving relationships in my life.