Ever since I was a little girl, the phrase “You are just like your mom” has been something I have heard countless times.

I have always laughed it off and said thank you, but never saw any real correlation. How could anyone be even close to that awesome? I am a part of a close-knit family of five, and she is our rock. My mom is more of a caring soul and knows how to be serious with us when helping with whatever issue we are facing. Whereas my dad has always been the one to crack jokes and to help us get through our problems by making us laugh. I have two older brothers and we all still call her for a word of advice, or maybe just a phone call to catch up. She always knows what to say, especially when you don’t know what shoes to wear with your outfit.

She has always been the most creative person in my family, from the Thanksgiving nameplates to the start of scrapbooks (those never ever really seemed to get finished). I, on the other hand, laugh when I try to do something creative. I always come up with these awesome things to do in my head, but I can never execute them. I have seen five-year-olds have better art projects than me. I am nearly one hundred percent positive that I got a pity A in drawing during high school. I recall one time I was working on a still-life drawing project, and the whole point of it is that it shouldn’t be something that is too overly complicated. You simply copy what is in front of you adding depth and detail. I somehow managed to draw things that were not even in the picture. I had to re-do it and my mom wanted to try it too while I worked on mine and hers turned out perfect, of course. She is perfect at everything! I mean it, she won’t lose any game to you. But, if she thinks she might lose the game to you then don’t bother trying to get her to play. One time we were in the middle of a game of scrabble, and she had been winning the whole time. Out of nowhere my dad came up with a few great words and was beating her by nearly 40 points. She yawned dramatically and said that she was tired and no longer wanted to play anymore. I suppose that’s the secret, don’t play games you are not good at and then you’ll never lose. Brilliant. Over Thanksgiving break we purchased a new board game, and we got halfway through the game, when my mom realized she was losing. She decided that she was tired and no longer wanted to play. I think she just didn't want to lose.

Another thing about my mom, is that she is the most selfless person you will ever meet. I mean it, she is awesome. I don’t think she has ever once put herself before anyone. My mom owns her own business, it's a cleaning company. Typically the people who work for her are not very well off, and so she does everything she can to help them have a better life. She works hard so that the company can pay them well over minimum wage, and she is always willing to accommodate any issues they may have. She buys clothing and coats for employees who do not have them, so that they have one less thing to worry about. She volunteers time that she doesn’t have so that she can help those in need. She will stay up all night with you to talk, or even if you just need someone to sit with you. I remember one time she sat in our living room until almost three in the morning talking to one of her employees because they were going through a rough patch in their life. Everyone who has the privilege of meeting my mom says that she is the most thoughtful, inspiring, and genuine person they have ever met. She always knows when something is wrong, and her hugs will make the weight that was on your shoulders fly right off. Because let’s face it, mom hugs are the best hugs, but especially my moms’ hugs.

My mom is also really funny; my family probably does not give her enough credit for that. We like to make fun of her and tell her that her jokes are lame, but she is just as quick as the rest of us. Don’t tell her though, she already knows how awesome she is and this little tid bit of information might make her head swell. Sometimes she doesn’t mean to be funny though. She will say things that will make you look at her and tilt your head before you burst out laughing. Did you know that Chicago has mountains? Yep right in the middle of the lake. We learned this information from my mom one day while she was staring off into the distance. She asked us what mountain range it was and pointed forward. At first we all kind of laughed, until we realized she was dead serious. We pointed out that there were probably not any mountains or hills in the middle of the lake. She tried to play it off and show us how the clouds KIND OF look like a mountain range. She thinks that it was something that could have easily been mistaken. We still joke around about that silly time to this day.

I have talked about all of the really awesome things that my mom has done, but her life has not always been sunflowers and rainbows. When she was younger her grandma died and this really sent her mom through a loop. My mom had to grow up really fast and take care of her little brother. I think part of this is why she has always been so positive in times of trouble. My mom also has a lot of serious health issues, from her raynauds to her slipped disks. She is usually in a lot of pain but she makes an effort not to show it. Every Sunday if she is still in bed by eleven, it is pretty known that she went too hard the following week and needs to rest before she can start again. This is the only negative thing I can think about my mom, and it is not even something that is her fault.

When people say that I am just like my mom I am happy to know that someone views me the same way they view my mom. When I think about myself and all of the things that I just named about my mom, I like to think that I am like her in some ways. I may not be creative when it comes to art and drawing, but I can come up with one heck of an idea for your advertising plans. I have always created flyers for organizations in the community and I am also the designer for my mom's business. She gives me little tasks to help improve my skills and portfolio as I make my way through college. I like to think I am a wizard when it comes to the Adobe applications. I think that I get my creative ideas from my mom because she always taught me to think outside the box. Whenever my mom and I would work on posters or anything together for an organization we would always collaborate our talents. I would come up with what I think that it should look like, and she would draw it. I specifically remember one time I wanted to make a poster for a school function and I wanted a football player to be holding up a cheerleader in a stunt, to try and tie the two together. I had it perfectly imagined in my mind and she knew exactly what I wanted. It ended up working really well and I don’t know how I will ever create something without her.

I may not be the most selfless person you have ever met, but I work really really hard to make sure that everyone feels like they are included. I hate when I have a friend who is sad and would be willing to stay in with them any day of the week if it meant a smile was brought to their face. I also have spent well over 400 hours of my life volunteering. I have done everything from picking up trash on the side of the road, to helping kids out at the science station. I love to make a difference in my community and I think volunteering is one of the biggest ways to do this. The problem with society today is that we spend all this time talking about all the cool things we could do to help out our community, but we never actually do anything to make it happen. My mom has always been the one who encourages my family to help out.

One year for Christmas we rented a limo to ride around in so that we could look at all the different Christmas lights. My mom did not want us to get caught up in the fact that we were all in a limo so she gave us each forty dollars and we were to find a charity to donate the money to. We would go around town looking at different things to see what organizations were out collecting money for the holidays. I think I ended up going into Barnes and Noble and donating my money to a fund that helps children get books. Doing a selfless act like this helps you to keep in my mind that Christmas is about more than just the presents, it is about appreciating what you have and helping those who are not as fortunate during this holiday season.

Lastly, I am definitely hilarious. I think I win that category, and maybe she gets her humor from me. Her jokes haven’t always been great but me on the other hand, I have been cracking jokes since diapers. So when it comes to that I would say she is more like me. I think that I get my “funniness” from my dad. He loves to make people laugh, and he will sit and tell jokes until the day he dies. I have always strived to be as funny as my dad. I tend to make my friends cry they are laughing so hard, so I think I am getting closer to my goal. The real question is, are they laughing with me or at me? I have not decided which I think it is, but either way, they laugh and that’s fine.

So in the end, I am more than thrilled when people tell me that I am like my mom. She is the bees’ knees and I am happy to be going down that same route. She is definitely my best friend and someone I have always looked up to. I will continue to spend my days thriving to be like her in every aspect of my life, putting my own comedic spin on things. The Nesseth clan prides themselves on being different and bringing something new to the table, and I want to do just that.