Lucy A., Magsig Middle School
A Tribute to My Mom
I live in a house with both a mother and a father. Really, just having both in one house is a privilege, but sometimes I only feel as though I have one parent.
Back in fifth grade me and my family were going to go on a fun vacation, but I came home from school with new news that my cat died and my mother was in the hospital. I fell into a deep depression after these events and, at the time, did not know how to handle my feelings. My father wouldn't tell my siblings and I what was really wrong with my mom, just that she was going to be away for a while . She came home and everyone was just bouncing back to normal.
Three years later I found out what was really wrong with my mom. Now I have started to learn that if I just don’t think about all the drugs she has to take and the countless therapy sessions she has. I do have two parents. This event made me more empathetic towards people because you never know what is happening behind closed doors.
I know I really want to help kids and teens who might be going through some of these diseases that my mom has. I really have to keep an optimistic and growth mindset if I want to do these things. I have to keep in mind that I do not have to conform to the assumptions of my peers. I feel like if I want to “thrive” in my life I need to be happy with what I have done in my life, whether that I be thriving in 1 year or 20.
I have a few things that I can do to continue towards my goals for the future. I have done countless things for my community because I am in Girl Scouts but something I have done that always has stuck with me is a fundraiser I did for DI (destination imagination). Me and my group raised money to buy board games and snacks and host a game night with the kids and families staying at the Ronald McDonald house. I really, really enjoyed it and I feel like the brightness in and light in their eyes was such a good feeling and made me want to plan out more and more service projects. I think that with my mom having a desire like these kids I really could understand who their parents feel. I know that as I grow up there will most definitely be times where I will want to quit and never get out of bed again, but I have to think of my mom and get up and do my job for my community. This is where my growth mindset comes in, everything isn’t going to be rainbows and butterflies forever, I need to be able to change with my environment. It will be hard but I have to do it, for my mom.
