women in my life.

One example of a strong woman in my life is my mother. I am not just saying this due to the fact that I feel the need to express my deep, loving gratitude for her raising me, but for the reason of her being a strong woman. My mother was married at the age of twenty one, and had her first child (me) at the age of twenty-two. My younger brother came into the family just four and a half years after my birth. She was a Navy wife and was responsible for packing up the house and transporting the precious valuables from one state to another. She was a caring, thoughtful, devoted wife who cared for her children. Around the time that I started pre-school my dad started to have a severe attitude change. He was no longer considered the "typical" dad. During this intense mood shift he started to become more abusive both verbally and physically. My mom had to make the choice to protect her children, and decided divorce this threat and move to a state with very little money and hardly any possessions.

After the long move to Michigan, my mom became a single mother of two- who didn’t receive child support. She had to deal with the sadness of losing the man that promised to love and care for her, a brand new infant, and five year old daughter completely distraught from the losing the greatest man in her life, along with two new jobs that could barely pay for the two bedroom apartment that the broken family occupied. It was a tough time, but my mom became superwoman and found the strength to continue working.

My mom is one of the best role models in my life. The man she married (my dad) was a great guy who had suffered from a terrible brain tumor that dramtically changed his personality for the rest of his life. Although most people might think that she should have stayed with him through “sickness and in health,” people don’t realize what an unhealthy relationship stemmed from her still being married to him. With his brain tumor also came thirteen different mental disorders ranging from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. It’s hard to keep a promise to a person when the person giving the promise is no longer there.

I greatly admire my mom. She will always work hard and finds simple pleasures in sewing and crafting for people around her. Whenever I need a person to talk to I will always think of my mom, and she always listens.

She is an example of a strong woman partly due to the fact that she had to become a single mother before the age of thirty, but for also accepting the bad in her life while embracing the good. She was able to recognize the importance of her family and went above and beyond to make her children comfortable. An example of her love can be seen in my tenth birthday. I was in fifth grade and my mom had just lost her job a few weeks before my special day of double digits. This was an unexpected shift in her life plans and she didn’t know how to give a gift when I was praying for some great birthday bash. That year she not only allowed me to invite five girls over for cake and a sleepover, but she stayed up late almost every night to make me a beautiful patchwork quilt to go in my newly designed “grown-up” room. She is an extraordinary woman who puts love in all she does. She is the strongest woman I know.

There are two more incredibly influential women that have shaped my outlook on life today. I call both of them “Grandma.” Both happen to be on my mother’s side of the family. Technically speaking, one is my step-grandmother, but I have never considered her to be this. She is my Grandma Mary DeWitt. My mother’s biological mother is my Grandma Janna South DeWitt. Janna passed away when my mother was three years old. She has suffered from breast cancer and had to leave behind four children with the oldest in elementary school and a great husband, my grandpa. I hear stories all the time about my Grandma Janna. When I see her brothers and sisters they talk about how I look and act like her. Although I have never met her she still plays the role of someone who made a difference in this world. She didn’t win her battle against cancer, but she truly loved her children and I think that motivated her to stay alive as long as she did.

Shortly after Janna’s death my grandpa married my current Grandma Mary. I love that woman with all of my heart. She came into the marriage after a difficult first marriage. She brought three children into the marriage with my grandpa and the two of them had to raise seven children, my aunts and uncles. I can only imagine what a difficult time this was for my grandma. Of course, the step-mom is always wicked and hates her stepchildren, but somehow she remained strong and kept praying for the returned love she so desired. Not only did she help her family, but she also went back to college and got her degree in teaching. She is one heck of a woman... and I love her for the passion she spreads throughout my family.

I know in my heart that I was meant to have two grandmothers: one to watch me from heaven and the other to help me grow here on Earth.

<3
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