A Mother's Love

"Today is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad about it!"

My Mother, my mom, my momma, my number one, my moo-ma, my ace boom, my ride or die, my friend! I love my momma, and she loves me. I know quite often people do not understand or grasp us or our relationship. We are close, bottom line.

My mom got pregnant in her Senior year of college, her relationship was on the rocks with my father and the life she thought that going to occur was quickly drifting further away. My mom graduated Dec 1986 from college with a Bachelors and a career set to begin as a manager in training for a major retailer.

I remember so much about my childhood, mostly good things. I remember how my mom was always working and she had the worst schedule, one of her off days was Tuesday. I was enrolled at a school that was different than most, it allowed me to tap into a creative side. It was not structured like traditional schools with desks and homework. We did not receive letter grades. It was cool,  we put on school productions for holidays and end of the school year.

I was raised by a single mother, we struggled and I never witnessed it. My granny played a major role in my life. I caught the school bus to and from school from my granny's house with my mom's work hours. Reason for our closeness, it has nothing to do with tragic life experiences or severe trauma, but simply..... My mom raised me in love, everyday we kissed and told each other we loved each other. And when you love someone, you want to be around them. We spent as much time as we could together, I liked being under her anytime I could since our time was sparse. I slept with my mom at night like most children, I had a nice room with brand new everything and hardly slept in that bed :)

I remember always being soooo excited to see her and couldn't wait for my mom to come pick me up. I knew my mom would have given me the world if she could. I didn't wear brand name clothes (couldn't afford it), but my clothes were always clean, pressed, and my hair was styled. My mom put forth effort in making sure her child was a good representation of her. She taught me respect and obedience to all my elders. I was a jewel to have around.

I was not raised in the church until later, we did not attend worship services. I went with my God mom on occasions and mom and I would go Easter and Father's day if she was off work. I knew God, prayed each night. My mom was sure to instill in me a solid foundation in Christ.

To me, she is the greatest mom ever, and sure I am bias since she is my mom and I know it is not good to compare and contrast. It is easy for me to say when I think back on my childhood. I have always come first and although my mom was not present in my classroom and we didn't sit down and do homework together I came out great. I wish she had more, I think the world needs more children raised by Johnnie Frances Smith. She is my phenomenal woman, strong, beautiful, admirable, passionate, witty, intelligent....who am I talking about?!? My momma, my strong black momma!

As I get older, I know my mom is getting older as well and it has always been in the back of my mind. I just don't know what life would be like without her. I still don't like that my granny is gone. I miss our conversations.

That's all for now. Later until I'm writing again. Smile, life is grand!