She Told Me I Had the Strength

I have had Systemic-onset Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis since the age of thirteen.  All of my high school years I was unable to attend, but my mom home schooled me.  She was single and did not have a college degree.

She always amazed me.  When I got really sick she would stop working and take care of me.  Lifting me in out of bed and make me as comfortable as possible.  She would cradle my face to hers and tell some day it would be okay.  The pain seemed to fade away as she loved me so dearly.

As soon as the flare got well enough for me to move on my own, she would find a consulting job and save as money as she could for the next time I needed her.  All the while she would be teaching me.  I don't know how she did it all.  She inspires me.

I made it to college and I am in Phi Theta Kappa.  If it wasn't for having such a strong mother, I could have just been disabled for the rest of my life.  But, she told me I had more strength than I knew.