She was always away. She never baked cookies or did our laundry. She never picked us up from school nor attended any of the PTA meetings. She never packed me a lunch nor organized a party for any of my birthdays. She couldn’t be bothered with those things and I never understood why until I graduated high school and was about to enter college.
She told me, “Study hard and get a degree. Depend on yourself to get you where you want. Learn to be independent so that if your (future) husband left you, you would not be a pitiful creature because you would be able to manage by yourself. You’d do well even without your husband. You’d get better jobs that allow you to spend time with your kids.”
My mom is a single mom and her most important wish in life is that none of her daughters will ever have to go through the same difficult experience she went through.
