Anchor in a Storm

When I moved to Los Angeles in 2005, I knew virtually no one there. I found my roommate through a website and signed a contract to sublet a room from her sight unseen. "Lucy" didn't turn out to be a good roommate at all. She mostly didn't speak to me or acknowledge my presence at all. In fact, once I made other friends there, one of them called her The Dragon, and another friend called her The Beast. She was horrid as a flatmate, and I was there to deal with it alone. 

God has an amazing way of growing us through trials, and I look back on that time as a significant chapter in my becoming a full-fledged adult. In a five month window of time, I had to decide that I would not continue to live with such a beastly person, I had to find a new apartment, sign a contract on it, break my contract with Lucy, hire movers (Shout out to Starving Students:  You're the best!), and then find a new roommate. Did I ever feel like a grown up making all of those decisions on my own!

Before all of that fabulous growth, though, during those dark early days in LA, I remember calling my mom from my cell phone in the Bed, Bath and Beyond parking lot having a serious panic attack, crying so hard I could barely breathe. I felt so alone. I remember my mom trying to calm me, but I knew that the only thing that would make me feel better was having her there with me. The rational part of my being knew that it would be ridiculous to ask her fly out to be with me--she had just flown home a few days before one the heels of driving me out from Texas--but the emotional part of my being desperately wanted my mom! Through my tears, I pleaded with her, "Mom, I just need to hear you say that you'll fly out here to be with me if I ask you to."

"Of course I will, Tracy." 

Those five words, which spelled out my mother's loyalty, were the anchor that helped me weather that awful storm. Knowing that my mom would come for me if I needed her helped me to survive. 

Mom, I would do the same for you in a heartbeat. Thank you for being the best mother I could ask for. Your love and loyalty are gifts that I'll never take for granted. You are a blessing, a true gift from God.

Happy Mother's Day!  I love you.

This photo was taken in February 2009, on her last trip out to visit me in Los Angeles before I moved back to Texas. Now I get to see my mom at least once a week, and I'm so happy that I get to celebrate Mother's Day with her in person this year!