I have been blessed with an awesome relationship with my mom. She’s not just my mom, she’s my best friend.
I know that you probably think you have the coolest mom in the world, but I’m sorry my mom definitely takes the cake on that one.
I mean we send each other SnapChats. I bet your mom doesn’t do that.
The relationship I have with my mom could rival that of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (yes, I know they’re fictitious).
It’s really weird living in a different city than her. Going away to Spring Arbor wasn’t that big of a step – I could go home on weekends and she could make day trips out to see me. Now that I’m in Indianapolis that’s impossible. And it makes me sad.
It’s been almost a month since I’ve seen her and several days since I’ve talked to her. In my first undergrad years we hardly talked on the phone at all. Then I realized how much I needed and wanted to talk to her. So, there would be days when she was the only person I was texting and it would last ALL DAY.
Most of the time when I call her it’s sports related or rather Detroit Tigers related. My step-dad thinks it’s odd that we talk about sports while my brother and mom talk about things like recipes. He also really wants us to talk about something like clothes or shoes, but I would rather talk about who the Tigers are signing and what my thoughts are on having a new manager.
But the other times I call her are when I’m struggling. If I need to figure out a paper topic, I call her. If I need to vent and rant about something that’s going on, I call her. If I need encouragement, I call her. She gives the best advice. There was once a time when I thought it was annoying that she would say, “Do the right things for the right reasons” every time we talked, but now it’s practically engrained in my thoughts and it drives me to always do the right thing.
Some of my favorite moments are when she calls me just because she missed me. I call her when I miss her too but when she calls me I know she’s in the car on the way home from work and she just wants to chat for a few minutes, check in. Then there are times when she just calls to say that I need to pray for something going on – she calls me the prayer warrior of the family, a title that I don’t mind having.
Now, that I’m so busy being a grad student (I’m surprised I even have some semblance of a social life with all the work I have) our calls are few and far between. I come by my hard work ethic (and stress baking) honestly – it’s a trait she possesses. With both of us working I miss the daily conversations, but I treasure the moments that I get to share with her.
I know that I make her proud. She reminds me every once in awhile, but mostly I just know. I can hear it when she says “I love you.”
What Rory Gilmore says in her high school graduation speech relates in some way to how I feel about my mom. I’ve been told that when someone else says it better than I do to let them, so without further ado (the part I’m looking for starts at the 1:48 mark)
What she says is:
“But my ultimate inspiration comes from my best friend. The dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life’s blood, Lorelai Gilmore. My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don’t know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.”
Today, I am thankful for you, mom. And I’m thankful that you’re my role model. My hero. My pillar of strength. My closest and greatest friend. My ally. My support system.
I love you. So much.
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