My 19th birthday was Sunday and in the days leading up to it, all I could think about was that it was the first birthday without my mother. Just thinking about it made me tear up and one day I just cried .. and cried. This was the moment I noticed that I am really attached, and do really miss my mom when I am here at school. I mostly grew up with my mom raising me and I was the only child for a while. Being the only child for some time meant I obviously had all of my mother's attention. Since she had me at a young age I feel that it built a special bond. My mom is young enough to understand the things that I am going through now in college/teenage years that maybe an older adult that is a parent wouldn't. My mom is my best friend.

Throughout high school, I think everyone can agree when I say that we couldn't wait to go away to college and be on our own. Although, now that I am actually here I realize that home is an important place for me and that I really miss my mom, and that being on my own is not as easy as it sounds. In these past few days I can say I was a little home sick. It makes me think of how my college experience would be different if I had decided to go to school in the city (New York City) where I would be closer to home. I remember my mom being on the fence about me being 4-5 hours away from home but hey I'm here and I'm surviving. It's probably a good thing that I went to college far from home, but being here just makes me miss my mom more. It also makes me think of all the things I want to do for her when I graduate and start working in the field I am studying for (Mental Health Counselor).

Here at school I do have a work study job, but my mom still supports me, which I am very grateful for. Some kids at school don't always have parents that are willing to support them by sending them things every now and then. Or the kind of parents that choose to take it upon themselves to start paying their children's loans off while they are in school.

My mom does whatever she can for my sisters and I. A lot of people admire my mom and I never really realized it until recently. How does she do the things she does? No one will ever know. Sometimes I see my mom in myself. The way I always want things done, or just always being willing to do things myself, feeling that no one can portray what I want to be done better than I can. I am definitely my mother's child. I will always adore her.