A couple of weeks ago I was home for spring break, and it was glorious! I hadn’t seen my mom for two months, which is the longest I’ve ever been away from her. I got to spend a lot of much needed time with her. There was this moment when we were leaving Food-4-Less, a moment that might have seemed insignificant to her but it was so important to me. I think it was the moment that I came to the realization that my mom was proud of me, and that really makes my soul well. We were sitting at the stop light. It was a nice day, so the windows were down and I was jammin’ out to Halo by Beyonce. When I’m jamming out, my hands are flying around, my facial expressions are all over the place, and there’s no holding back. My mom looked at me and asked, “Aren’t you worried about people looking at you? Or what they’re thinking of you?” Honestly, the question took me aback, but I responded without hesitation and said, “No”. A couple seconds went by and she spoke again, “You know, you’re exactly who your father and I wanted you to turn out to be…” Overwhelmed with joy, my heart softened and I asked her, “How?” She smiled big and told me, “When you were about two, your father and I took you bowling. When we were there, there were these teenage girls singing and dancing around on the tables. They weren’t being obnoxious or attention seeking; they were just enjoying each other and shamelessly having a good time. Your father looked at me and said that that’s what he wanted you to be like. Spontaneous, outgoing, fearless, shameless, confident… And you are.”