My Hero

Hero—a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. The person who is a hero in my story is my mom. Growing up, we idealized brave princes and knights in fairy tales saving the princess from the dragon or the evil witch. We heard stories about firefighters saving lives, soldiers fighting war, and police officers stopping the bad guys; these stories made the idea of a hero in my life seem unattainable. But, now I realize that I have had one by my side my whole life. 

My mom is the kindest person I know but she is also as hard as nails. There’s nothing she won’t do for me and our family or anyone she cares about. She is the foundation of our family. If anyone has a problem or complaint, without fail, she is the first person to know. There’s quite literally no problem she cannot solve. From fighting over clothes, to who is in the bathroom, and who gets the car; she always finds a way to work things out. She also never forgets to show complete strangers kindness and never fails to remind us that she loves us. I honestly believe that this woman wouldn’t even hurt a bug (unless it was a spider crawling around on my ceiling).

She has a million amazing qualities, but the one I admire most is her strength in hard times. When my Nana and Grandpa died we were all devastated. Even though my mom was dealing with the loss of her own mother, she constantly put me and my sibling's grief before her own. By consoling us when we cried and refusing to let us see her when she was upset. She constantly put our needs before her own. When she had been taking care of my sick grandpa for months, she never let it show how tired she was from staying up with him, or how sad she was when he died. Although I wasn’t there to see, her strength in her struggle with fertility and her desperation to have kids of her own manifests in the way she loves and treats us today. Her strength to keep going inspires me every day to push through the struggles of high school. 

My mom has taught me many things in life. One of these things is to remain positive and happy no matter what. Being a teenage girl and having tons of mood swings, one of the most important things I have to remind myself is that choosing to feel happy is so much easier than choosing to be mad. This reminder constantly comes from my mom who is a light of joy and laughter everywhere she goes. With the constant bickering, bickering, and more bickering that goes on in our house, remaining calm and happy is hard for me to do…I can’t even imagine how my mom feels. Regardless, the woman always has a beautiful, big, and bright smile beaming across her face. She is the first person I call when I am upset and somehow, no matter how stressed I am, finds a way to help me relax and feel better. She used to tell us she had “superpowers” when we were little, and that’s how she never got sick when she was taking care of us while she was. And maybe she did, she is my hero after all.