Mom and SarahI have to admit I feel a little humbled by how well things have been going since… well… almost forever. I’m one of the luckiest women I know. I’m 39, doing what I want, living where I want, rich with friends, loved by family, hungry for knowledge and life and definitely into the pursuit of happiness.

And I owe most of this to my mom.

I can’t remember a second of my life growing up when Mom wasn’t encouraging me to do everything I wanted to do. After a nasty breakup with my high school sweetheart (who wasn’t sweet at all and who probably never had a heart), Mom suggested, “Why don’t you spend the summer working at a national park? Get away for a while.” The summers I spent working in Sequoia and Shenandoah national parks as a housekeeper were some of the most enlightening days of my life.

When I was adrift as a psych major in college, Mom was the one who said, “Why don’t you try journalism? You love to write.” The first journalism story I ever wrote was picked up by the college newspaper, and I was hooked.

I don’t know if she suggested Peace Corps or I did, but as soon as the idea was mentioned, she revealed that Peace Corps had always been a dream of hers as well. And with 110 percent of her support, I pushed forward with the idea even though Peace Corps didn’t think a person with a journalism master’s degree was fit to teach English (go figure).

Mom grew up in a very small Louisiana town, a daughter of one of the town’s few family doctors. Her mother sent her to schools to learn how to stir iced tea without making any noise, where the primary goal was to get an MRS degree. Mom and Papa met in New Orleans while they were both in college, and they married after they graduated. I was born 14 months later. Like many women of her generation, she had her goals thrust upon her by her family and society, and she vowed my sister and I would live out our own goals.

With her support, we both have. I couldn’t be happier, and my sister has what she always wanted: a loving husband, two great kids, a large extended family around her and a whole house full of pets and people. And Mom lives five blocks away from her grandkids and a phone call away from her other daughter.

Mom turns 63 today. Happy Birthday, Mom. And thanks for helping me become who I am.

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