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My mom is my hero

When you’re a kid, your world is built around things that are set in stone. People make you promises, and you expect them to keep them. When those promises can’t be kept, you look for a hero, or someone to help you rebuild your world.

I’ve been made a handful of promises that people chose not to keep rather than “couldn’t” keep. And I’ve had promises made to me by people who can’t always hold up their end of the bargain, but somehow always make things work.

Being adopted, I’ve never known much about my life before I came to the United States from Korea. I can only imagine what it would be like now if I had stayed in Korea – if my parents hadn’t responded to a note that read, “Please adopt to a family that can care for her” upon finding me abandoned in a police station. I’ve always felt as if that was my parents’ promise to me, and they made it knowing they might have a lifetime of challenges ahead of them due to my cerebral palsy.

My mom was unable to have children, but she always wanted to be a mother. So I believe that’s a big reason why my brothers and I have the life that we have today, because of that one selfless decision she and my dad made all those years ago. Her strength is something I find motivating when I’m not feeling my best.

My mom was never dealt the cards she’d hoped in terms of her health, but it has never stopped her from being what she wants to be. It’s one thing to watch her do all the things she does, but it’s different to actually draw my own strength from watching her and wanting to grow as a person.

My most impressionable memory of this was when I was in elementary school. I was in a class with other kids with disabilities and didn’t quite know what to make of it. I paid attention, but I’d completely shut down as my half-day of school went on.

I didn’t answer questions, participate in class or go out of my way to do anything. I just sat at my desk, silently letting the world go by. My teacher called Mom and told her what was going on. Her blood was boiling. She took me home as soon as she saw me acting this way.

She snuck into the back of the classroom and watched me for about five minutes. I caught a glimpse of a shadow behind me, followed by an angry voice declaring, “We’re leaving!” I knew it was my mom, and I knew I was in trouble.

The car ride home felt like the longest in my life. I was in tears. When we finally got home, Mom sat on the couch and asked me one question after gathering herself: “Are you doing your best?”

That question would end up shaping everything I’d do, say and be from that point on. It’s a question I ask myself every day, even when I feel I’m at my best. That day paved the way for the rest of my life. It’s not my fondest or proudest moment, but it was one that I needed to have.

So Mom, thank you. Thank you for being a caring mom, a strong wife and everything in between. You show everyone around you that life is what you make it. You truly are Super Woman!

Erin Kelly, 30, was born with cerebral palsy in Korea, and lives in Altoona. In addition to this column, she also writes for online publications The Huffington Post, The Good Men Project, and Real Talk Magazine. Email her at WriterWheels28@gmail.com.

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