I don’t think there is anyone who inspires me more than my mother. A lot of people have told me that I’m a “mama’s boy” and I guess that’s kinda true, but in all honesty, I don’t see why this would be a bad thing. What is not to love about my mother? She’s awesome.

Especially as an immigrant, her strength, power, and devotion have made me who I am today. So without further ado, here is a letter to my mother.

Dear Mom,

You inspire me. You have worked hard and fought all your life to ensure that I could have a successful and happy life. Your first step in doing that was by making your first sacrifice of leaving your home in Poland behind and immigrating to a completely new country. That’s a big deal, and it required a lot of courage on your part. Through immigrating, you have given me the chance of prospering by coming to a country far more rich and powerful than yours.

But leaving your home behind was only the beginning of your challenge. In a country, so often plagued with discriminatory practices and number one ideologies, you had to survive as the member of a less valued culture and a speaker of the less valued language. Just to even be able to live in this country, you have had to deal with people questioning your identity and who you are, just because you are an immigrant.

One of the things that inspire me the most, mom, is how you sacrificed your opportunities for education, and/or finding better employment, to take care of me. You had to take on the worst and lowest paying jobs just to survive. After becoming a mother, you had to continue to do this in order to take care of your family. The cost and time of even taking English lessons at a community college were too much for you.

You chose to, instead, devote that time to taking care of me and putting food on the table.

As I was growing up, you have worked tirelessly to make sure that I could get a good education. The public school system did not give me the attention I needed, and as a bilingual/ bicultural child, I struggled in adapting to the educational culture here. You did all you could and found a small private school, that was able to provide me with at least the attention I needed.

Most importantly, as I grew older and my coursework became more challenging, to the point that I couldn’t comprehend it, you did all you could to help and support me. Even though you came from a different country, had a different educational background, and didn’t understand my coursework at all.

I remember how you’d stay up all night with me, scouring my textbooks, and the internet, just to find answers to various homework assignments I had that ranged from arithmetic to history.

Finally, you did all you could to teach me about where you came from, mom. You spoke to me in mostly Polish and immersed me in your culture. You developed in me, mom, the skills necessary to speak 2 languages fluently. You helped transition me and live between to separate cultures.

Your devotion that I knew about my heritage, had engrained those skills in me, skills which even to this day, prove to be a valuable resource for me.

Mom, through all the difficulties associated with you being an immigrant, you have been able to raise me into the successful and intelligent person I am today. I wouldn’t be who I am without you mom. Thank you.

Your loving son,

Sebastian Zgirski