Living with just my mom and sister after the age of 16 has been an experience. I love my mom to death and she is one of the best people I know. She is so incredibly strong and loving. She does her best to provide for my sister and I and does whatever she needs to do to make us happy, even when we get on her last nerve. Once my dad passed away my Sophomore year in high school (I was 15 at the time), I was just the three of us. I've learned many things over these past two years, me being 18 now.
I learned that we can not always depend on other people to make us happy, we need to be able to find our own happiness. We need to be able to see the good in things even when we are down and upset and are missing the other parent. We need to able to rely on ourselves to be happy and to show the world we are not weak, but that we are strong people and can do everything, just like anyone with two parents.
I learned that you need to cherish every moment with your parents as much as possible. Both of your parents are blessings. They love you unconditionally, even when you don't think they do because of that huge fight that you had. In the blink of an eye, they can be gone. That's what happened with my dad. One minute, I thought he was alive and breathing, going to come to my softball game. The next, he was gone. I thought I would be going to the Star Wars movie coming out that next year at midnight with him. I thought he would've gotten the change to see me start driving, to see me perform in my last high school play, to see me walk at graduation with pride and confidence, to see me graduate from college with a degree. I thought he would have gotten the chance to let someone ask for my hand in marriage. I thought he would have gotten the chance to walk me down the aisle, to meet his grandchildren, and to watch me grown into the woman he desired me to become and be proud of me. I thought these would happen, but they never did, nor ever will.
I learned my mom is one of my best friends and one of my biggest supporters. As stated above, my mom is one of the strongest people I've ever met. She is one of the sweetest and most generous people on this planet. When my dad died, it impacted her in a way that I will never understand unless it were to happen to me. We both experienced his death in a different way. But I believe because this happened, God saw this as an opportunity to bring a mother and daughter closer than ever before. I can tell my mom anything and I hope she can trust me with anything. Her and I fight all the time it seems like- because I did something really dumb usually- but that happens with most people. But when we aren't arguing, we're always laughing and sometimes singing in the car, listening to her songs for her childhood and songs that I love now. I love my mom to the moon and back, and she is the best friend I could ever have. Thank you, momma.
I learned that everything happens for a reason and that it's okay to not be okay. God has a plan for us, even though we may not like that plan, it's still His plan. He knows better than we do. Trust in God. Pray to Him and ask for guidance. He loves you.
