A guy typically dreads asking his girlfriend's dad for her hand in marriage. In the South, this process can often include a shotgun, a background check, and a lot of intense questioning.
Alex, on the other hand, really dodged a bullet when he decided to propose to me. Since I grew up with just my mom, he only had to ask for her blessing, and she would have said yes to any guy with a college degree, a job, and a good head of hair just to get me off her payroll.
Very quickly, though, Alex realized something unique about my situation. After one of our wedding parties in Rock Hill, he looked at me and said,
"You have a lot of moms."
"Yep, I do."
"It kinda scares me."
"Yep, it should."
And Alex was right to be a little nervous. See, I have been blessed throughout my life to be surrounded by a pack of protective moms. These weren't your ordinary moms. These women ran restaurants, held political offices, led government programs, chaired church and civic boards, and loved me like one of their own.
They taught me how to ride a bike without training wheels, how to get my ducks in a row, and how to pop the heads off of shrimp like a champ.
I continue to be amazed and inspired by the women around me
Over the years, I have watched women bravely fight cancer with courage and grace. I have watched women lose their husbands and their children too soon, yet somehow maintain their faith through it all. I have watched women fight for the families they have and fight for the children they long for with determination and fearlessness.
Over the years, I have watched friends lose moms before they could celebrate milestones together and have then watched these same friends honor their moms every day by the way they live, the causes they champion, and the way they raise their own children.
Biological or not, all of these women have molded me into the woman I am today.
One of my favorite movies is War Room. If you haven't seen it, stop finish reading this blog right now and see if you can find it on Netflix. In the movie, Miss Clara has been a mentor for Elizabeth, guiding her through a rough time in her marriage. At the end of the movie, Elizabeth asks if they can still meet, and Miss Clara provides her with a challenge, saying, "You need to find a young woman to invest in, and I'll do the same. We all need help now and then."
I am lucky to have so many strong women as role models. My hope is that I will take all of their love and support and pay it forward, just like Miss Clara encourages Elizabeth to do. Navigating relationships, building careers, raising kids . . . it's hard work. The key is to remember we're all in this together. Some days, the struggle is real, but we can strive to make the journey a little easier for one another. We all make an impact on other people, whether we mean to or not. Personally, I want my impact to be positive, building others up the way my moms did for me.
I hope one day my boys will look back and think I was a good mom, but I won't be able to take all of the credit. If I'm a good mom, it's only because I learned from some of the best.
