When I think about the definition of strong, the first person that comes to my mind is my mom. She is hands down the strongest woman I know. She had three daughters who were not always the most appreciative and took many things for granted. Our parents did everything for us no matter how ungrateful we acted. Now that I am older and can reflect on that I realize it takes a really strong person to handle all the things my sisters and I threw at my parents.

Growing up I did not realize just how much my parents did for us. My dad worked at an office in a different city and my mom did childcare out of our house. One thing I took for granted was the fact that there was always a parent home. Whenever I had to leave school because I was sick or I needed to call a parent for some reason I knew someone would answer. My mom couldn't always be the one to pick me up when I was sick but she was able to get a neighbor or family friend to pick me up. Coming home after school to an empty house would not have been as fun as having my mom and a bunch of daycare kids there. So on top of having to care for other people's children, she had three children of her own to take care of. She never got a break from children. Growing up I didn't always like having other kids in the house, but now looking back I always had someone to play with even if they were years younger than I was. I also got to watch so many different kids grow up and that was and still is such a great thing to experience, seeing a child grow up and seeing how they change as they age.

Another reason why my mom is strong is that she took anything life threw at her and kept going. Whether it was something minor like having to take care of a sick daughter and take care of the daycare kids at the same time or something huge like a death in the family. She took anything in stride because she could not stop being a mom. Being a mom was her top priority. If my sisters or I had a sporting event, concert, or anything my parents were there. They supported us with anything and everything we wanted to do. There wanted and encouraged us to do whatever made us happy no matter what it was. That is something I will also do if I have kids of my own.

Something I lucked out with is how much my parents love each other. Many people can't say the same because in today's world divorce is fairly common among families. I think growing up, I definitely took for granted not having to switch between being with my mom and being with my dad. This makes my mom strong because I know how much pressure and stress a married couple goes through. Yes, my parents fought, but at the end of the day, they were always on the same team. My parents have quite different personalities where my mom is more outgoing and talkative while my dad is reserved and go with the flow. I see traits from both my parents in myself and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have the same weird sense of humor as my dad and the same big heart and the fact that I cry super easily just like my mom. The crying thing isn't my favorite, but I do have other traits from my mom like the fact that I love kids, helping others and putting others before myself which both my parents do.

Lastly, another major reason that my mom is strong is that no matter how bad a day she has, she takes a new day with a clean slate. It doesn't matter how horrible the day before was, she tries her hardest to move past it and leave the past in the past. Two major examples come to mind with this, when my grandma died and just recently when my grandpa was in the hospital. I remember coming home after school to both my parents home, which almost never happened. My mom was crying and my dad sat me down and told me that my grandma, my mom's mom, had passed away. This was one of the hardest things my mom had ever been through but I think she took it like a champ. She didn't shut down like I'm pretty sure I would. She continued to provide for her family like she had done before. And recently when my grandpa was in the hospital, you could tell she was super stressed. She was at the hospital, which was an hour away from our house, almost every single night after working for ten hours. Family is so important to her and she will always put others before herself.

I could go on and on about how much my parents mean to me. They taught me that family is everything and family will be there for you no matter what. I am so lucky to have grown up with such an amazing family. I learned so many things from my mom. I can't wait to be a mom myself and do things how she did because I know if I act how she did as a mother, I will give my family the best life possible. I love you, Mom.