12 May Happy Mother’s Day to My Grandmother

By Imani Lopez

Dear Abuelita,

At times, I understand where our situation may seem unfair. You not only raised your own two children, but all of their children as well. You shouldn’t have had to take on such a responsibility, but we are eternally grateful that you did. You took it upon yourself to step up to the mother-figure role, to give us the life you felt we deserved.

You deserve nothing but appreciation for the amount of time, effort, and love you put into raising my sisters and I. And so I would like to say thank you:

Thank you for being my support system from day one.

Thank you for the advice, and words of encouragement.

Thank you for the hugs and shoulder to cry on.

Thank you for being the one to get up every night to soothe me back to sleep as a child.

Thank you for working long and late hours to help put food on our table.

Thank you for the trips to the park, and teaching me the names of animals in Spanish.

Thank you for teaching me about my culture.

Thank you for teaching me how to cook.

Thank you for coming into my room five times in the morning to get me up for school.

Thank you for the countless hours spent in the sun at my soccer games, not to mention the countless hours in the car just traveling to them.

Thank you.

Thank you for teaching me to smile through the tough times.

Thank you for teaching me always be compassionate to others, just the way that you are.

Thank you for holding me at such a high standard. I would not be where I am without you.

Thank you for never giving up on our family.

You always used hard times as motivation to do better, and I will always applaud you for your effort. Thank you for being patient with me during my selfish teen years. Thank you for always understanding, and loving me unconditionally. I want to be exactly like you Abuelita. I want to love like you do. I want to teach like you do. I want to be a mother to my future children, the same way you were a mother to me. You will always be my number one inspiration, and role model.  And although you did not give me the gift of life, you gave me the gift of love. A gift I will never take for granted.

I love you Abuelita.