As Mother's Day approaches, so does another date; the one year anniversary of my surgery. The closer it gets I find myself reminiscing about my experience more often now. Some parts I look back on with fondness and most of the other parts make me shudder. Now, bear with me as this will soon turn into an Oscar acceptance speech without the cool gift basket. Now a year later and I'm through the hell fire, I honestly couldn't do it without my family and friends but more specifically, my mother. The recovery was entirely worse than any of us could have imagined and we were not prepared. We were not prepared physically, emotionally and definitely not mentally. Although I will tell you this, when you're bedridden for 2 months and immobile, you bond real quick with whoever has to escort you to the bathroom. There were many moments that I would break down in tears after physio as I saw little to no progress, convinced that I couldn't do it any more. But it was my mom who witnessed this and calmly told me that I had no other choice- she was my strength when I had none. She was my voice of reason when I had completely lost my will and she was my constant support whenever I needed her. She was my bathroom escort and my personal narcotic pharmacist. She delivered almost all of my meals while I was bedridden and sat with me when I was lonely. She was there when I had small victories (getting out of bed myself) and when I would fall (face planting into the window....carpet and crutches done mix). She even went out and bought me 12 cross stitch kits when I developed a sudden and urgent 'Percocet induced' passion for cross stitch; I was essentially the rain man of cross stitch. She was there to pick me up from work when I would be in tears from the pain and couldn't hide it anymore and she was there every morning making me breakfast and my lunch because she knew it would take me 40 minutes just to do my makeup and dress myself and I wouldn't have time for everything. I figured my life would be the one to be most affected by my surgery but I was completely wrong, it was everyone else's as well. I can't thank my mom enough for everything she did for me and everything she continues to do for me. Everyday I try to be a fraction of the person she is and if I achieve this I would be so proud. Everyday she amazes me by the person she is and by the things she does. She puts everyone first even when she needs it the most. She inspired me to keep going when I was at my lowest and she inspires me to reach further when I'm at my highest. So on this Mother's Day, I not only want to express my gratitude for what she did to me during the hardest time of my life, but what she continues to do for me everyday. It takes someone strong, to make someone stronger. Here's to stronger times all around, Brianna
