I Am His Mama

I get this all the time. Actually my son does. I have a son who is 14 (he will be 15 in April) and when we are together, be it in the mall or the store, or anywhere, people think we are brother and sister. Then he will say "MOM" and everyone looks at me like I have the plague. And I am like yep, that's my boy.

Long story short, I had my son when I was 18. Actually, I got pregnant when I was 17. I graduated high school when I was 16 because I went up a grade when I was 7 and my b-day is Sept. 3rd so I started school when I was 4 and was a year younger than most of the people in school. I grew up fast. Only child, daddy's little girl, spoiled rotten. My parents' marriage began to deteriorate when I was about 16 and I met Antonio (my baby daddy--hate that term) at a party. He was 20 and fine and had a nice car and his own place and I thought I was grown. We started dating and after a year I became pregnant with my son. Thought about abortion but in the end, I knew I was going to keep the baby. Antonio and I tried to work it out but 4 years and several black eyes and countless bruises later, I left his sorry ass.

It wasn't easy being a single mother. I was working a full-time gig, putting myself through college, and trying to be a mother and a father all on my own. Antonio wasn't around much, he was too busy out in the streets. But me and my shorty were good. He never wanted for anything. We never wanted for anything. We always had a roof over our head (although we were homeless for a minute, more on that in another blog entry) and I always had a car. Times was rough though. I can remember making a big pot of spaghetti on a Monday night and eating that ish every night that week. But we survived. Two degrees and a marriage later and we are doing VERY well. My son is now a Freshman in high school and I also have a 4 year old daughter from my ex husband (not Antonio mind you).

I see young mothers all of the time and I remember that pain, that burden that they have to carry. I am 33 now and the realization that I have a 14 year old is odd, but I am so thankful and glad that I had him. I am hoping that these single mothers get through the pain like I did. I never thought I would be able to see the forest for the trees back then and now I am chopping a tree down everytime I see an obstacle with no problems.

Life is good, yo.

If you know a single mother struggling, let her know she can do it. Let her know that even through darkness, light will follow. I held onto my dreams when I didn't have a penny to my name. And now I can do anything...

...and I am HIS mama. I am very proud. And blessed.