“Parents are the best teachers.”

I’m sure a lot of people have heard this once, if not more, in their lifetime.

My mom graduated high school but never went to college. She started working at the age of 13.

She got married at 19 and got divorced three years later.

When she met the love of her life at age 27, she got remarried and had two kids, my sister and me.

But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.

Six months into their marriage, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. That started the process of surgery to remove part of his colon, six months of chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation treatment. After the colonoscopy, the doctors told him they were pretty sure they had it all.

They were cleared to have a child, so they had my sister and then were cleared again to have me.

Then five years after being put into remission — five months into my mom’s pregnancy with me — my dad got pneumonia and found out that his cancer was back and had metastasized to his lungs.

This trial of cancer eventually caused one lung to fail and spread to his bloodstream, placing my dad on life support at the age of 35.  

After being married for nine years, my dad lost his long and hard battle, which left my mom heartbroken. At a young age, she had was a lonely single mother.

So how does this make my mom a teacher?

My mom has taught me life lessons that have changed my life in more ways than I could ever imagine.

My mom worked full time and raised two kids by herself.

She did everything she could to make sure we had everything we needed and did her best to cover our wants as well.

She raised us in church and made sure that we knew that God should be in the center of our lives always.

She has been our main support through everything.

She never misses a game, chorus or band concert, cheer competition, sports banquet or open house at school.

She never fails to tell us how proud she is of us.

She encourages my sister and to focus on our grades but never makes us feel as if we have to be perfect.

She gives my sister and me the advice we need.

When we lay in bed heartbroken over a boy who has broken our hearts, our mom is the first to comfort us and wipe our tears because she alone knows what it is like to lose her one true love and knows that he isn’t coming back no matter what she does.

She looks for the positives in everything because she knows that being negative won’t get you anywhere.  She is the definition of “strong.”

She is the reason my sister and I are the young ladies we are today.

She knows that everyone makes mistakes and she understands that my sister and I are not perfect.

My mom is the best mom I could ask for.

My mom has been the best teacher as well.

When you sit and think about what all your parents have taught you, you’ll realize how wonderful they can be as teachers.  

If I am half the mom and teacher my mom is, I’ll be extremely blessed.