Amazing Mom-- My Loving Guide, My Perennial Inspiration

Many people have heard of the time-honored quotation, "A mother is a person who can take the place of anyone, but whose place can never be taken." Throughout my entire academic career, my mother has always been my personal mentor, role model, and best friend.
It was in her comforting arms where I first learned how to love myself. It was under her attentive guidance in which I developed poise and self-confidence. It was she who told me that I command the sole power to transform my dreams into reality. Every day, we learn something new from each other, help each other out, and challenge each other to live a life worth remembering. Until the sky collapses or the Earth shatters into a million pieces, I know that I can always count on my mother for priceless advice, support, guidance, and unconditional love.
As I recall the countless sacrifices my mother has made to ensure my success and happiness, I know that I owe it to her to be the best daughter I can be. In many ways, I think of my mother as a wise, compassionate older sister rather than a strict, imposing adult figure. This is because she is different from most Chinese adults I know. When my mother knows that she is wrong, she either immediately apologizes or corrects herself, instead of going along with her mistake and insisting on doing things her way, as some Chinese parents do. She does not pretend to understand something she does not know. She is not embarrassed to ask me for help on simple English pronunciations, in the same way that I am not afraid to speak to her in broken Mandarin. Although my mother sometimes still calls me "little daughter," from an early age onwards, she has treated me as if I were an adult, as if I were her equal. I have never had a curfew because my mother trusts me; I have never had to hide my diary because she respects my privacy. I have always been allowed to keep my own "lai see" money from Lunar New Year because my mother does not believe in exploiting little kids' money. She rarely checks to see if I have done all my homework, not because she does not care, but because she feels that I am mature enough to care about my own education. Because of this precious trust my mother holds in me, I always put extra effort into overcoming any obstacle that confronts me. My mother has ingrained a deep sense of self-dependency within me that I know will be with me for the rest of my life.
Since my father is at work most of the time and my grandmother has high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases, my mother has to take care of everyone and everything in the household. Nevertheless, in between her busy day at work, cooking dinner, washing the dishes, taking out the garbage, tending the garden, and washing the laundry (to name just a few), I am amazed by how much time my mother devotes entirely to me.
My mother is punctual, reliable, and caring-- no matter how late she goes to bed each night or how much work she has to do, she never fails to wake me up at 6:30 a.m. each morning, nor does she forget to tell me each night, "Vicki, don't work too late. Schoolwork is important, but so is your health." If it weren't for my mother, my report card would be scarred with tardies and U's for falling asleep in homeroom. Even though we have different beliefs, my mother does not force her own values upon me. Although she is a firm believer in Buddhism, she is tolerant of my Christian beliefs, listens patiently to my often convoluted explanations of Biblical events, and allows me to attend church each Sunday. Sometimes, she will even go as far as to inform friends and relatives of church gatherings and fellowships, though she will never attend any of the events herself. I have a couple of close Chinese Christian friends who are forced to attend church in private each week due to their parents' disapproval. They remind me of how blessed I am to have a mother who does not force me to burn incense nor forbid me to read the Bible. Every morning when I pray, I thank God for providing me with this extraordinary mother.

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