With Valentine’s Day just in the rear view, I’d like to dedicate a post to the most important woman in my life, my mom. I owe the world to her for enabling me to learn the habit of disabling my limits at a very early age. Being a big basketball fan I equate many things to the sport, so I’m going to use an analogy to describe our relationship. While many parents have a coach-player relationship with their child in that they teach their kid right from wrong, tell them what to do, and then take them out of the game for punishment when they make a mistake, my relationship with my mom has always been different. My mom has been much more of a teammate throughout my journey in life, and even more importantly, she always lets me lead our team.

While my mom is always there to give me guidance, she always provides me a sense of autonomy by letting me set my own goals, and then sets me up for success as best she can. Whether it was playing floor hockey with my classmates in elementary school or playing the drums, she always helped me find a way to do what I wanted to do. Or, when I had aspirations of becoming the next Slim Shady in middle school, my mom would drive me to and from rap competitions that were never in the best neighborhoods. The venues I’d perform in were similar to The Shelter in 8 Mile so you can understand why this was asking a lot of her. As I got a bit older into high school, she’d let me take public transportation into the city by myself, and I’d spend the entire day riding around, shopping for clothes, and meeting new people. It may have cost her a few grey hairs, but doing things on my own allowed me to develop a sense of independence. Even to this day she supports me in many ways including managing some of the bureaucratic mess that comes with receiving medical assistance, so that I can focus on living and enjoying my life.

By repeatedly providing the support I need to succeed, she has allowed me to realize any obstacle I’d encounter in life is just another opportunity to disable my limits. Coming from a medical background, my mom understood the implications of my disability and gave me so much freedom to explore my boundaries, or lack there of. Had my mom raised me differently, I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I can be proud of where I am because I know I did it MY way. And no matter what anybody else thinks I can or can’t do, I owe a million thanks to my mom for never telling me I couldn’t.