Why Growing Up With 2 Moms Is Awesome
I Grew Up With 2 Moms, and I Wouldn't Change a Thing
My Mom
Don't even get me started on my mom. You know Lorelai Gilmore? If you could combine her with Mrs. Incredible (aka Elastigirl from The Incredibles), you'd get my mom. She's one of the hardest workers I've ever known, possesses a fierce independence that would put Beyoncé to shame, and values her kids above all else. While many women dread inheriting characteristics from their mothers, I'd be lucky to become more like mine. She taught me how to love without holding back, live a life that I'm proud of, and form relationships worth keeping.
Over the 25 years that she's raised me, my mom has worked her butt off. Long hours of exhausting tasks and heaps of responsibility awaited her at the office every day, but somehow she always put on an energetic smile for my brother and me. During the few months since I graduated and entered the workforce, my already high regard for her has increased a hundredfold — I get eight hours of sleep per night and still feel sluggish when I arrive home from work! She's always been determined not to let her personal struggles affect her parenting, and despite everything from financial woes to health scares she's succeeded. If she ever felt threatened by another mother's presence in my life, I never knew it!
It seems that every spare moment of my mom's life is spent connecting with her kids through the activities that matter to us. For my little brother, that means many late nights spent poring over football strategies, creating sports-team rosters, and baking enough snacks to feed an entire mountain-biking team. When I still lived in the house, it usually meant picking through stacks of used books at musty bookstores or picking up burritos for marathon nights of Lost. My brother and I are vastly different people, but my mom managed to value and connect with us equally.
I wasn't the most obedient or respectful teenager, but my mom persevered and loved me anyway — and I'm thankful that my rebellious days are over, because now I can talk to her about anything. She's spoken more words of prayer for me than are written in 10 copies of War and Peace — I'm sure of it. If you collected the tears she's shed for me during times of heartbreak and distress, they would fill a fish tank. I can call my mom anytime for an attentive ear and compassionate advice, and she's still always game for Thai food and Netflix binges. It would never embarrass me to call her my best friend.
