Mom, Mother, Mommy, Mama. Everyone single person has one but not everyone has the privilege of having my mother. When I picture my mother I hear the creaking of her loud laugh and I see her curly brown hair. Her name is Rebecca Mchargue H. and she is, and always will be, one of my biggest role models.  For one, she somehow manages to take care of and raise her three crazy and stubborn kids. Let me give you some background. I have two older brothers, one of them is eighteen and the other is almost twenty, and I, being the youngest, am fifteen. My parents are divorced and I have an amazing step-dad named chuck, while managing to have a spectacular relationship with my dad too. My mom has not only raised us but has taught us how to live life responsibly and how to be amazing people. I could go on forever and gush about how much I respect and love my mother but I am going to point out a few of the things that really stand out about her parenting and about her personality to me.
Some people would say that my mom does not have the most conventional way of raising her children. For as long as I can remember my mom has had the philosophy that we can make our own decisions and then we have to see what the outcome will be. For example, if one of us wanted to skip school she would say something like, “It's all up to you but are you sure you want to get behind in school?” and our answer would obviously be yes and that we did not care about school. The next day when we would go to school we would freak out and be super stressed and when we tried to complain to our mom she would tell us that we knew this would happen and we chose to do it. It’s not that my mom wanted us to get behind: it is just that she wanted us to see for ourselves that everything we do affects something in our life. She likes letting us teach ourselves a lesson rather than be insanely strict and overbearing. This is one thing that I will forever cherish about her. She truly never oversteps her boundaries, even if we are creating trouble, as most high schoolers and college kids do. For example she does not feel the need to constantly breathe down my back or always ask where I am, but rather she trusts that I will tell her what I am up to.  She does not ever take my phone and read my personal information, which is a big deal to any teenager, and she respects me enough to be open with me about everything.

Another thing that makes my mother my role model is that she talks  to me about anything and everything. In our relationship there is nothing, well almost nothing, that we have not brought up, discussed, or laughed about. Instead of being a parent who tries to shield her kid from every “bad” thing in the world, my mom does the exact opposite. She actually brings up the topic and tells me how to be safe about it and how to not abuse whatever it is. For example she teaches us about topics like rape, drugs, and other things that are scary in this world. This has made me and my brothers so much more aware and cautious of things in our lives. Not only does that help to protect us but she makes us feel comfortable talking about hard topics with her and other people. I truly hope that, as I grow older, I will remember how much my mom allowed me to be open to the hard things and how she helped me through them.

 
In addition to my mom doing really well in her parenting, she’s also one of the most carefree and charismatic people I know. If someone told me to choose three words that describe my mother, I simply could not do it because she is such a complex person. One part of my mom is a very serious woman who is always working on buying, fixing, and selling properties to make money for our family. Before she had kids, my mom was a lawyer, so she’s very good at arguing with people and standing her ground until she gets what she needs. I guess that could seem like a weird thing for me to include in this essay about how my mom is my role model, but the fact that she will not give up until she get “justice” or gets what she needs is something that I admire deeply. It is also something that anyone who knows my mom can see clearly about her. On the other hand my mom has no care in the world about what other people think about her. If she likes a song in a restaurant she will literally get up and start dancing, with absolutely no shame. This is a great thing to look up to, for obvious reasons. She lives her life in the way that she wants and has no shame in the things she does, which is something I think everyone can learn from. Lastly my mom has so much love in her heart. There is not one thing I could do that would ever make my mom hate me. She has an unconditional love for everyone in our family and for all of her friends. This reminds me that I am loved and that I am surrounded by people who are super loveable.

The point of me writing down all of these things is so that I could say that everyone has parents, and you need to not take them for granted. Stop being rude to your mom for not letting you buy that game or not letting you hang out with whoever, because she has raised you your entire life and is one person that you can hopefully always count on. Take time to tell your parents you love them and to admire all the amazing qualities that they have. Your parents are like an anchor that you can always count on to hold you down and keep you steady.