Nearly 10 months ago, I gave birth to my amazing son, and I’ve been in awe of him every second thus far and will continue to be forever! Having known and felt what I do…I now fully understand all that my mother has been through and all that she continues to go through. And I will never come close to having the amount of strength that she has. 

My mother birthed 13 children. Unfortunately, 4 of my older siblings didn’t survive and never made it across the pond with my parents. It saddens me every time I think about my brothers and sisters that I will never come to know. And moreso, I feel so deeply for my mother for her loss and for having the courage to survive and be the most amazing mother to the rest of us. Anytime I’m faced with a tough time or situation, I always imagine myself trying to be as strong as her…and that helps me push through even the most painful situations. When I deployed in 2009, I went through training down in Texas before we shipped out overseas. One of the requirements was being pepper sprayed and then working our way through a gauntlet of exercises before we were allowed to wash off the chemicals. I watched strong, confident grown men, cry like babies as they fought their way through and thought to myself “there’s no way I can do this!”. So, I told myself. If my mother could do what she did, and give birth to all of us without any medication and without making a sound. (oh yes, culturally, we aren’t supposed to make sound in the birthing process). So, if she could hold all that pain inside and never show it…then what possible reason would I have to cry out in pain from this?! I gave myself no excuse. If I could be even a tenth as strong as my mother, I could do it. And to my surprise, I did!! I made it through the entire exercise, without even a single whimper. And even after I washed my eyes out with dawn dish soap (for reals…soap directly onto my eyeballs), and the pepper spray lingered and stung and burned, I kept quiet and just kept telling myself “be strong like mom”. 

So, this mother’s day. I feel exponentially more than I’ve ever felt on a mothers day for my mom. And I only hope that I can be half as strong as she is and show my son that he too, has a strong mother. 

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone this weekend! This is me, signing off till Monday! Thank you all!