A Built-in Best Friend

    

    A Built-In Best Friend

    My eyes fluttered open to the sound of Christmas music and the scent of peppermint filling the air. I threw my legs over my bed and slipped my feet into my white fuzzy slippers before darting down the stairs with excitement. 

    "Good morning!" I exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm coming from a kid that is most certainly not a morning person any other day of the year. 

    "Morning!" my mother happily replied while being swallowed up by a white cloud of flour as she slapped a huge slab of tan sugar cookie dough on the countertop. 

    "Let me roll that one!" I demanded as I grabbed the rolling pin off the table and pushed up the sleeves of my snowflake-patterned Christmas pajamas and began rolling out the dough. 

    My mom handed me the huge red box of cookie cutters and asked me what shapes we should do for this batch. I sifted through the snowmen, the gingerbread-men, and  the Christmas trees until I found my favorite shapes- the snowflakes. "I knew it." she remarked with a smile on her face as she wiped off the flour I got on my cheek.

    This was just one of many happy memories that I have made with my mother in my lifetime. She is so special to me and has always been a positive energy in my life. She's not only been a mother to me, but also a best friend. 

    She has huge curly blonde hair that bounces with every step she takes and sparkling blue eyes. Growing up, all I ever heard was "Oh my gosh, you are her twin!" by every person that we would come across when we were together. Everyone always has commented on how I'm basically her clone. The only difference we have between us is our height. She stands much taller than me at 5 foot 10. As for me, I can't seem to get past 5'3. 

    As positive as my mom is today, it's hard to picture her backstory at a first glance. She was born last into a family of seven other children and a very stern single mother, who also happened to be deaf. They were extremely poor and lived in a 2 bedroom house surviving off of only bread and milk and whatever fruit they could steal off of the neighbor's fruit trees. My mom's older siblings would resort to doing anything they could to make money, even if that meant they put themselves in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, she had to witness 2 of her siblings dying at a very young age, which affected her a lot. She was able to use her unfortunate childhood experiences to motivate herself to work hard and get herself out of that environment so she could in turn give her own children a childhood that she wished she could have had. 

My mom, brother, and I 

    My mom has many different hobbies. She loves to garden, cook, decorate our home, and binge watch trashy television shows like the Real Housewives, something that I also have gotten roped into. Although I complain about it and don't like to admit the shows entertain me, the times we laugh most are during these moments. She even somehow convinces my brother to watch them, too. We've learned to make a whole event out of it. We drape blankets and pillows all over our couches, pull up the couch side tables in front of ourselves, and make tons of snacks. My mom's personal favorite snacks of choice are jalapeño poppers and pizza rolls. We always call these nights our little "parties" and anytime any of us have a bad day my mom always says  "Well, it's okay! We'll have a party night and forget it all!"

    My mom's kindness not only spreads onto her children, but everyone else she meets. She is always putting others first and loves making everyone happy. This past week, she spent over 5 hours cooking homemade pasta sauce to freeze and bring down to school for me just because I had mentioned to her on the phone that I was dying for it and missed it so much. However, she didn't stop there. She made sure to make a container for my roommate as well and another one for my childhood friend who also goes to my college. All of my friends absolutely adore and end up being close with my mom because she cares about them in a motherly way and makes them feel like part of the family. 

    Her determination and warmth is something that influences and inspires me daily. She's taught me that anything in this world is possible if you set your mind to it. Most importantly, she's taught me to always stay hopeful and kind no matter what the world has thrown at you. If she could pass down any words of wisdom, they would be "You create your own happiness."