Happy Mother's Day to all the True Mothers out there. Your love, nurturing, and affection literally changes the World. This Rose hand picked for you.

---

It was 1990 and I lived in the housing projects. You know the kind you see in the movies. I remember the apartments building were fenced in and they were three stories tall and had 10-15 apartments per floor. There probably had to be 20 different apartment buildings inside the chain link fence.

Waiting On the Church Bus

I know it was a Sunday when the person I call mother(Alice) had a hand in saving my life. I was sitting there on steps waiting for the church bus and I see this big blue car pull up. I instantly recognized the person getting out as my Dad from the pictures I had seen of him. He was there with two men I would later come to call Uncle Dave and Randy.

Come to find out my biological mother had contacted my father to come get us or we would be sent to a children's home. She was pretty bad off on drugs and alcohol and I guess my brother and I were not priorities in her life anymore.(Years later the person I would come to know as Mom and my Dad would adopt my half-brother who stayed in Florida that day).

So, I left Florida thanks to the woman who funded the trip to come and get my brother and me.

I left with a box of clothes, a teddy bear, and a tackle box containing my baseball cards.

Still around

---

Why I Consider Her My Mother

• The manners I have were instilled in me by her. She always taught us to say "Please" and "Thank you", "Yes Sir" or "No Mam", and of course "You're Welcome". I remember growing up people would literally stop us at the store and comment about how well mannered we were. I pass that on to my children today.
• Eating at the Dinner Table. We always ate together as a family growing up. It was always the one time of day we knew we would all share together. It's still something I do with my own family.
• Keeping a clean house. She taught us how to make our beds, wash dishes, and do laundry. We had a total of 6 people in our house and that eventually grew to 8. Everyone always helped clear the dishes off the table and helped clean the kitchen after dinner. It's the reason I always try to help my wife clean house today. Washing dishes is how I had to get my first ever stitches!
• How to bathe. My brother and I had horrible hygiene issues when we met her due to lack of being taught. There were things she had to actually help with physically(think downstairs) because issues were happening from a severe lack of hygiene.
• Giving us affection. My brother and I were pretty broken when she met us. We would have nightmares and had a genuine mistrust of adults. Her love, affection, and kindness helped heal those wounds.
• Nursing us to health. My brother and I were severely malnourished(my brother much more so) and she nursed us back to health. Being left alone days at a time and having to fend for yourself had taken its toll on our bodies.
• Stressing Education. We had moved around A LOT when I was in Florida and with that came many schools and missing many days. She always made sure we were clean and ready to go to school. Homework was always part of our after school routine.

---

THE NUMBER ONE THING I WILL BE THANKFUL FOR

That she had the money to give for the trip from Ohio to Florida to get us. It sounds so simple but if she wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have learned all the above from her! And who knows what type of person I would be today or if I would even be alive.

---

---

OFFICIAL HOME OF THE FIRST EVER LOONEY COIN

Article explaining inspiration

If you enjoyed this post, please upvote and follow! I write a little about everything. Some posts are very personal with the intent of helping others. However, if it interests me I may just Steem about it! Steem on Steemians

---

All pictures by @lexikon082

---

Cause I'm the one and only