You

Endless.

Her energy. Her spirit. Her positivity. Her smile. Her thirst for knowledge. Her thirst for opportunities. “Endless” was the only term that described all of her.

Today I celebrate the woman that gave me all that I am.

She was a little different, all of the strongest women usually are. Living life to the fullest didn’t even depict how she lived. She indulged in all of the things that mattered, knowledge being the most important of all because “it always led to the best of stories”. She used to say that everybody had a story, and if you really thought about it, the only stories you would hear were from the people who have had the knowledge to live it, speak it and publish it on a platform that gives access to you, the reader. Her thirst to learn and be knowledgeable about what was to come was what she was always so excited and passionate about. Being the only creative yet quiet in a large family of outspoken and extremely opinionated people made growing up that much more difficult, though fun. She found her voice, strength and path in the books she read, the intriguing internet and sometimes embarrassing questions she thought to ask in the quest of gathering information at all times.

As her knowledge grew over the years, so did her passion for life and everything in it (including a never ending hunger for spaghetti bolognese). She would tell me everyday to be healthy, eat clean, drink 2 litres of water a day, exercise frequently but make sure it’s not just at the gym, sign up for a class that includes movement, but no matter what you do always enjoy spaghetti because after all life is meant to be lived.

I never understood why she obsessed over spaghetti, and many of her wise words were often spaghetti associated.

“Stick at everything you’re good at because spaghetti does”.

“When life gives you opportunities, celebrate and make a bolognese”.

“Spaghetti changes for the better but stays true to itself, so be you but only change if it means you’ll be a better you”.

To this day I live my life by those very wise spaghetti words. I stuck at everything I was good at, I made a bolognese for every great opportunity I’ve ever had, and the only way I changed was by growing up and changing into the person I was always meant to be. Teenage me would be so proud of the me today. I owe everything to her, because of her I never gave up, because of her I knew there was more to do, because of her I knew what path I needed to take.

Every time I need some inspiration to keep going, I look in the mirror and 14 year old me tells me:

“You’re doing great”.