My Mother’s Love
My mother at 38 years old gave birth to me after 11 years of marriage and many miscarriages.
She called me her miracle from God, naming me after her mother whose name means angel.
She felt education to be extremely important, something she stressed constantly to make sure I shared in believing in its importance.
After school I sat at the kitchen table each afternoon to do my homework. If I had a question she could help as she was working in the kitchen.
She knew everything about every subject and could answer any question I had. I assumed all mothers were like this, smart and helpful.
When I was younger it never occurred to me how little education she received.
My grandparents brought her from Italy when she was two years old in 1913. During this time education was a luxury that most could not afford.
In the sixth grade, she had to leave school to help her family. My dad, whose father had died, only made it to the second grade before going to work to help his family survive.
When I was a Senior in high school preparing applications for college, something none of my parents’ siblings had ever done, they were quite vocal to my parents and to me with how it was “a waste of money for a girl to go to college.”
My mother, backed by my father, stood firm. She was confident in the opportunities in life for a woman with a higher level of education than her own. She wanted to give me the choices she never had.
It was only then she shared with me how she had all the answers when I was doing homework.
Each night after I was asleep my mother would quietly get my schoolbooks. Late into the night all through my time in grade school she would sit at the kitchen table reading the next chapter in each of my textbooks to ensure she was just a little ahead of me.
She confessed to sneaking my high school books to try to keep educating herself even when I no longer needed her help.
As I slept, she on the sly taught herself subjects she was learning for the first time to make sure that she could answer my questions. Night after night, without praise or recognition, my mother gave up her relaxation so that my life could be richer.
Many years later, when my three children did their homework, it was not the mystery for me that it was for my mother.
I did not have to sacrifice the way she did as I passed on her legacy, the gift of education, to her grandchildren.
Of all the many gifts my mother gave to me from love, her sacrifice of time and energy to make sure I had a good education was the greatest gift of all!
