If you aren’t familiar with StoryCorps, you should be. Both because it is amazing, and because this blog post is in the style pf StoryCorps, so if you don’t make yourself familiar, you may be confused.

My mother was born in a small town in Nebraska. She followed shortly after her older brother, and was followed up with a little sister.  My mom has told me lots of stories about her childhood.  Some of them are fond memories of time spent with her family, and some of them are stories about hardship.  Things weren’t easy for her, and I bet that has a lot to do with the fact that she grew up so soon and became a mother herself at only 17 years old.

I remember when I was a child and my mom worked most of the time, but some days we would get to ride the bus home and she would be there to greet us with some wonderful snack like caramel popcorn.  We would spend the evening together, singing and dancing in the living room, which was our most frequent family activity back then.  Those were good days.

Those days weren’t all that frequent because along with her job, and raising children with my Dad traveling consistently, my Mom was also a nursing student.  She pushed her way through school with five children at home.  And she did it well.  My mom is the picture of perseverance.  She has taught me that you can have everything that matters to you.  She taught me how to do the most important job that I could ever have, I just hope I do it half as good as she does.