I used to think that writing was easy. I thought that you just spilled all your thoughts out onto the page and that was it. It wasn't until I started applying for college and went back to an old teacher for help that I realized how different it was. I have always been the type of person who was better at writing out my thoughts than being able to articulate them. Half the time I don't even know what I'm thinking until I start writing it out. That was the main reason I went back to my 8th grade English teacher for help. She had gotten me through a lot when I was younger and helped me find an outlet for my thoughts and struggles.
My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was younger. Towards the end of her treatment her best friend with the same condition died around the same time as her mother. She lost a best friend and a mom while I lost an aunt and a grandmother. It was hard for a long time to watch her go through chemo, lose her hair, lack the energy to sometime do simple things, but she never stopped smiling, at least not in front of us. She was strong and in the face of great sadness and turmoil she never gave up.
This was the best essay I ever wrote. I wrote about my mom and the never ending strength she carries. The essay might not have been my best work or the greatest writing I have done, but it was the one piece I know was the best because of the meaning behind it. She is my best friend and watching her go through all of that at such a young age changed me. I'm tough and don't show my emotions because I learned how to be okay in front of other people. I learned how to put on a brave face and be okay because that's what people need from me.
My essay was about the great impact my mom has had on me and everyone she meets. She is one of the greatest people you will ever meet. She is beautiful, strong, empathetic, kind, grounded, enthusiastic, and so much more. I think this is why she makes it out of so many tough situations still in one piece. She is strong willed and won't let anything break her. Over the years I have earned little by little more about my mom. To this day she still mazes me.
When I went back to my old English teacher with this essay that I had written, she told me that she had always hoped I would become a writer. She used to make us keep these little journals in class that we would write in weekly. She would give us prompts and we had to share our thoughts. She helped me to realized the impact writing could have on me and how much it could help me. After that all I did was write, but I always knew that she was the one that inspired me.
Writing that essay about my mom was the best thing I had ever written because it impacted me the most. It helped me realize that she was one of the most amazing role models I have ever had in my life. I get a lot of my strength and compassion from her. Creating that essay was almost healing for me. Watching your mom go through something like that will change you for the worse if you let it, but I didn't. I used it to help foster this love for writing that I still have today. That essay will forever me my best work because of the impact it had on me and the strength it gave me.
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