VivaLaTamy: May 2014

Happy Mother’s Day

Today we celebrate our mothers. The women who carried us in their tummies for nine months, the women who went through tough long labors to bring us into to this world. We want to celebrate all mothers, aunts and grandmothers, as well as some fathers who had to take on both roles. We thank you!

I want to take the time to really appreciate three very important women in my life who I call my moms.

For those of you who don’t know, I am adopted.

Being a mother is a joy but can also be a very tough responsibility. Being a mother sometimes may call for some true tough heartbreaking sacrifices. As a mother, your job is to try to give your children a wonderful and healthy life. You want your children to be able to get an education and then see them live their life in the big world. My biological mother Jacqueline was one of those mothers who had to make a very tough decision. My mother had two children before she had me. She was already struggling with money and knew having another child would be difficult. She couldn’t offer me the life she had planned. A good education for me was questionable. So she took the bravest step any mother or parent can decide…she give me up for adoption.

Adoption was the only choice she had in making sure that I could have a better and happy life. Hoping that some young couple would take me in, raise me as their own and see me grow up into a successful young woman. Of course when I first learned about being adopted, I took it as if my mother hated me and didn’t want me. Only when I grew older and matured did I truly understand the meaning of her actions.

Unfortunately when I grew older, we tried to track her down and we found out that she had passed away. I wish I could have met her to tell her that her act of bravery really made a difference in my life. I wanted to show her the young woman I had become and hoped to see her smile and be happy for me. Still, I know in my heart that she has been watching over me all these years, so she already knows that I am living the life she had dreamed about for me. So I want to wish my biological mother a Happy Mother’s Day!

My mother as a teen on the left...explains where I got my thick hair from lol :)

The next woman I would like to give thanks to is my Mama Nena, who is my grandmother. Mama Nena is the mother of Veronica, the “Mama” who raised me. Mama Nena was a very caring and loving woman. My Mama Nena knew that my Mama wanted a child but could not have one of her own. Being a mother you want your children to be happy and you want them to experience motherhood as well. My Mama Nena on December 24 went to the hospital in search of a child she heard about in the adoption center who was available for foster care. That day she took me home with her and cared for me. On Christmas day she called my Mama telling her she got her a very special gift…me. I was a Christmas gift! My Mama and Papa at the time were overseas in Belgium on assignment. So from December 24, 1991 until March 30, 1992 my Mama Nena looked after me and cared for me as if I was hers. When I first heard this story I couldn’t believe it and felt very special. I got to witness yet another true act of love from a mother. Today was the first Mother’s Day my Mama experienced without her mom since Mama Nena died in August 2013. So Mama Nena from my heart to your heart I want to say Happy Mother’s Day!

Now for the third woman in my life….my Mama! My Mama is a truly lucky Mama. If it wasn’t for my biological mother giving me up, my Mama wouldn’t be here celebrating Mother’s Day. The first day my Mama got to see me she said it was the most amazing experience she ever had. My Mama said she felt some sort of spiritual bursting in her fourth Chakra, which deals with the heart. My Mama has helped raise me into the young woman I am today. I have learned from her so much and continue to learn from her. I know some days we may fight and say things we don’t mean but at the end of the day we know that we love each other. I always say that I see my mother as a sister because I was an only child growing up. She played with me when my friends couldn’t come over. She put up with my bizarre childish imagination and put up with my weird rules to games haha. My Mama has been there with me through every obstacle I have faced. She was my rock when I went through depression in high school. It was a tough time and she didn’t give up on me even though at times I wanted to give up so badly and just give up on life, but no she fought for me and with me, and I am truly blessed and thankful that she did. She has supported my dreams and is the reason I continue to study art and film because it is my passion. I love my Mama so so so much and will always love her. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother.