It's not everyday a person becomes the greatest person at such a young age. My mom grew up in the south side of Chicago so she always knew how to defend herself. Her whole childhood was always revolved around others. She did everything from taking care of her sisters to supporting the people around her. Although she is a great mother, she is the most altruistic person anyone will ever meet.

As a child, her mother was never home she was always out at a bar or with friends; however, when she was home she didn't do much to help out around the house. With this said around age 10, my mom did most of the cooking and cleaning for her family. My mom practically raised her sisters on her own. As her two little sisters got older, they also began to help out around the house with the cleaning. My once told me a story that went like this..

“ There was this one day when my mom went out for the day, and dad was off at work. She had given my sisters and i, a huge list of chores to do like vacuum, wash the floors, clean our rooms, wash the dishes etc. When me and my sisters got to washing the floor, we decided to have a water fight inside. By the time we stopped everything in the kitchen was soaked, and the floor was flooded. I looked at the clock, and it was 12:00, and mom was going to be home at 12:30. Me and my sisters rushed to clean up the kitchen. As mom walked in the door, we had just finished cleaning up the huge mess.” Even though she had many responsibilities, she still had a little fun and in the end can still be a responsible person.

Growing up wasn't so great either. As she got older, her responsibilities did get easier, but she was given bigger and more responsibilities. She always knew how to support the people around her. She began to work at age 15 to help support her family. Living in the south side meant she needed to know how to fend for herself. Once she told me a story about when she was in high school, it went like this… “I once has this boyfriend that i broke up with, and a couple days later my best friend was going out with him. We got in a huge fight over it. The next day i shoved her face in a plate of mashed potatoes at lunch. That day after school she was waiting by my locker, when i got there she started pulling my hair, slapping, and scratching me. I took one punch to her face, and she fell to the ground. No one ever messed with me after what happened that day.” She shows me that its okay to defend yourself and not to be afraid, being afraid makes people take advantage of you, being taken advantage of is not something that should be experienced more than once. My mother's childhood may not have been what she had expected; however, it made her the great person she is today.

To this day my mother does everything she can to help others. Everyday she goes out of her way to make others happy. About once a month she goes and helps out at the P.A.D.S homeless shelter at the older st. Marys church, by making food, and bringing it there or donating her time to prepare lunches or serve them. Along with that she runs around like a chicken with their head cut off almost everyday. She is either bringing my brother to a hockey game or practice or bringing me to open gyms or workouts. When she's not driving us around, she is cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or helping my brother with homework or a project he has. She rarely ever makes time for herself, it's always about what others need or want to do. She is a single mother with two kids who works 3 jobs, every Saturday morning she goes to run out off ice drills at glacier ice arena, and she goes to multiple different places to do peoples payroll at their house or business. on job is at a home in Mundelein, another is at the chiropractor in Mundelein by hitz pizza, and another one is a police station in Waukegan working for the chief of police. with all the work she does she still manages to get us to where we want or need to be. She is one.. to put others.. before herself…

Having to take care of her sisters made her not only the most altruistic person, but the best mother anyone could ever ask for. What she had to do as a kid really showed her what life is really about and the importance in being the best person possible. This made her a person with little fears.. and is ready.. for anything…