Mom is the strongest and smartest woman I know.
Mom lived through an abusive and disaffectionate childhood to meet my father, to whom she has been married for over 35 years. She was a caring, creative and disciplined stay-at-home mom to me and my brother, while at the same time earning her Master’s degree in library science. She worked as a librarian for the U.S. Army for ten years, then switched careers and worked as a computer programmer for another six years. Since then she’s been a night stocker at Wal-Mart, a telemarketing manager for a satellite company and is now a middle school teacher.
As a kindergartner I missed her so much that for the first week, I would sneak away during lunchtime and run home.
As an adolescent, we clashed. She was unpredictable and would fly into frightening, unreasonable rages. My rebellious teenager attitude didn’t help matters. To be blunt, I thought she was just a crazy bitch. After I left home and got married, I would tell people that I hated her.
Then, in 1991, a miracle happened. Mom got sober. Ever since, she has attended at least one Alcoholics Anonymous meeting a week. Many heart-to-hearts and crying sessions later, I know a lot more about her, including the fact that my adolescense happened to unfortunately collide with the height of her alcoholism.
Mom’s courage and determination have made it possible for me to call her a mentor and a friend today. Mom’s ability to do anything she sets her mind has been inspiration to me in the pursuit of my goals. Mom’s fallibility and love of learning taught me that no one is perfect and continue to remind me to constantly strive for knowledge.
I love my mom; I’m so proud of her. In her honor, I have decided to dedicate my first marathon to her. I have an 8" by 8" piece of white Tyvek upon which to write my dedication, which I will safety pin to the back of my shirt this Saturday at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota.
My idea:
MY FIRST MARATHON
FOR YOU, MOM
11+ YEARS SOBER
I LOVE YOU
Basic, but it gets the idea across, I think…
Anyone have a better idea? Needs to be pretty concise and large enough to her read from the sidelines. She’s driving up from Texas with Dad as we speak.