My Mother, My Superhero

Growing up, we are all faced with images of Superheroes. Spiderman, Superman, and my personal favorite, Dash from the Incredibles. A superhero is described by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary online as “: a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also : an exceptionally skillful or successful person”. I can say that I have met a real life superwoman. She changed my life and taught me such an impactful message that I decided to share with you.. Born to a teen mother, this superhero in the making faced challenges from the day she was born. My mother experienced things that most of us only hear or read about. As a toddler she tragically encountered extreme levels of cruelty and various forms of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father, someone who was supposed to protect her. This played a significant role in her image of who she was. This person, who was supposed to protect her, called her names and berated her as early as three years old. By the time she was a teenager, she did not look like anyone’s hero. My superhero was angry. My superhero was betrayed (or confused?). My superhero was hurt. Of course, on the surface, everything seemed normal.

You see, her mother worked at LTV Steel and her father was a laborer with General Motors, when he wasn’t preaching as a minister on Sundays. My hero’s mother stressed the importance of reading and made sure that she traveled while she was young in order to expose her to a world of choices. I guess with this beginning it seems natural that she would find her way on the path to becoming what I consider a superhero.

See, most of us spent our preschool years and elementary school years playing dress up or taking dance lessons or for you lifers, running around...

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...y mother, my journey won’t be as difficult as hers. I will never have to know the resolve or resiliency that it took to turn a life destined for disaster into a life of love and influence.

And the fruit of her effort is evident. Case in point, I’m graduating this year, my sister is graduating this year, and my grandmother is graduating this year and starting a Master’s program in the fall. And my mother? She managed to graduate from law school and is completing the vision she envisioned for herself.

But for my superhero, that is not what she would deem her greatest accomplishment. In her mind, her greatest accomplishment is that there is expectation for the generations who will follow us. She believes, as do I, that her decisions will affect my children and my children’s children in such a way that attending a school like Laurel or going to college is normal.