Dedicated to my mother, Vivienne Patricia Clarke
Mother,
Happy Mother’s Day to you.
Thank you for making me your daughter for the fourteen years of my life that I was blessed to spend with you.
Thank you for every sacrifice you made to give me a better life, even when life was not easy for you.
I may have strayed from your teachings, only to find my way back to them today.
Now everything I do is to make you proud, through doing what is right for my daughter,
through becoming the woman you tried so hard to raise me to be.
You were a single mother who made a way for your children with what you knew and how you knew to do it.
You were never married because no one was worthy of your hand in marriage.
I made you a grandmother, but you are not here to see her.
Still, I ask you to help guide me so I may lead her in the right direction, the same way you tried to guide me.
You adopted many children, you fostered many souls, and to this day, they will never forget your name because of the way you loved and cared for them, even though they were not your biological children.
You became a mother at a young age , a first-time mother with dreams still growing inside of you, and you warned me not to take the same road.
Yet even through your struggles, you showed strength, wisdom, and resilience.
Thank you for the days you were a stay-at-home mother, the very thing so many mothers wish they could be today, but cannot, because life sends us chasing survival while trying to provide a better future for our children.
They say being a stay-at-home mother is not a job, but it is one of the most important jobs in the world, and one of the most underappreciated.
Now I spend my days as an entrepreneur, working to become the best version of myself.
I chose not to go into the military because I did not want to be told what to do.
Maybe deep down, I always knew I was meant to be a boss.
You were right when you said a woman’s work is never done.
Mothers do not need a holiday to be celebrated.
We deserve respect, honor, love, and understanding every single day.
Because mothers never truly sleep— we only take naps.
We carry worry in our hearts from the moment our children are born,
because the hardest battle is realizing our children no longer belong only to us.
And even harder than protecting them is learning how to let them grow safely in this world.
You may no longer walk beside me physically, but you will live in me forever.
Your lessons, your strength, your sacrifices, your love, and your voice will remain in my heart for the rest of my life.
I promise to continue making you proud.
In the way I love,
in the way I mother,
in the way I fight through life,
and in the legacy I leave behind for my daughter.
So I write this in honor of you, Mother, and for every phenomenal mother who shows up every day, all day, loving without limits, giving without conditions, and sacrificing without applause.
To all mothers—
All Day And Every Day, Happy Mother's Day.
Thank You.