Yo Mamma, you the bomb

“I’ve never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” M. Twain

            I graduated from high school in 1989 and began college in 2010.  The education I received in high school did not prepare me for life.  Twenty-one years later the education that I receive in college will improve my career opportunities but still does not prepare me for the rest of my life.  The two educations in academic settings do not limit or define the knowledge I gained.  Schooling is important, but life itself is an amazing educator.

School could not prepare me for the position of domestic goddess.  It could not prepare me to be a loving wife.  It most definitely could not prepare me to be a great mother.  I looked to my own mother as a role model.  My mom did not work and was always home when we filed off the bus.  She cooked dinner every day, even on the weekends.  Our family of six was grounded by our mother and we blossomed under her guidance.  School does not teach the skills one needs to be the rock of a household.

Mom pushed me to be the best student possible but never went overboard.  She realized her daughter was smart, smarter than she.  I didn’t need help with my homework or even told to do my homework.  What I needed was my mom to have my back.  She encouraged me to let my personality shine and be the unique child I was and eventually the adult I grew to be.  My mom was my best friend and to this day, is still.  We laughed together, cried together and united when needed.  For as kind and understanding as my mother was, my father was the opposite.  If anything, I learned I did not want to be like my father.

Academia is important.  Schools teach students the core basics in education.  In life, the educators are the people who surround you, family, neighbors and friends.  I was lucky to have an out-standing mother.  She guided and supported me for the first eighteen years of my life and I am eternally grateful.  She has always been and will always be my life role model and hero.  I hope my own children will have that same emotional connection and opinion of me.