45 years and about nine months ago, my mother was a college student and a single parent to my older sister.
That’s not to say my daddy wasn’t around, because he was, as he was a student at the same college where my mother was a student.
And, of course, he was there when my mother got pregnant with me. 😀
I can only imagine what my mother must have been thinking, “I’m trying to finish school, and I already have one child. How am I going to get through school with two babies?”
My daddy was there to help, but he didn’t have to go through the morning sickness, the swollen feet, the crazy food cravings, the sapping of his energy as a baby grew larger and larger inside of him. My mother alone had to endure those challenges, and she still had to care for my sister and do well enough with a full load of college courses to keep her academic scholarship.
So what did she do?
Instead of sacrificing my life, she delayed her dream of getting a college degree.
She married our father, and she took some time off from school to care for my sister and to bring me into this world.
While she did that, my daddy continued his college education.
By the time I was out and kicking and screaming and bouncing and gurgling, my daddy had finished his undergraduate degree.
So… my mother then went back to school and finished her classes to get her undergraduate degree while our father took on more of the responsibility of raising us so our mother could concentrate on her studies.
Yes, it was definitely a team effort, and I am extremely grateful to my daddy for stepping up and doing his part in our young lives.
However…
It was my mother’s choice to put her own ambitions on hold for a time and give me life that allows me to celebrate 45 years of life on this day.
She could have chosen to abort me.
She could have chosen to give me up for adoption.
She could have made any other number of choices, so she would only have to handle raising her first child and finishing her undergraduate degree.
It’s not a far-fetched idea…
Then and now women have made choices between the lives of their unborn children and the lives they believe they could have if they weren’t burdened with their unborn children.
So…
As I celebrate my 45th birthday, I also celebrate my mother who has made sacrifices all my life, and even before I took my first breath in this world, to make sure I was afforded every opportunity and chance at success, insofar as what was in her ability to control.
I love you, Momma!