every day.

Mom worked 6 days a week, 10 hour shifts, just so we could take care of the necessities of life. She learned that Goodwill was the best place in the world for our clothes, furniture, appliances and Christmas gifts. When you have kids ranging in age from 14 to 2, every penny counts and Dad never gave Mom a dime.

We eventually moved from the 2-bedroom house with no plumbing and a woodburning stove for heat, to a 3-bedroom house with a full basement (converted into bedrooms), with 2 bathrooms that really worked and an actual furnace. Mom would no longer have to cut up dead trees and haul them home on a sled in winter-time in the snow.

Mom found a new job working for a bindery, which paid alot more and she didn't have to work 60 hours a week. She did, however, work a second job on the weekends cleaning a bank; after all, we were getting older and our needs were changing. Between work and raising six kids alone, Mom never really got to do anything for herself until she started writing poetry and short stories. It was an outlet for her that she could express everything that had been part of her life. Mom was a fabulous writer and had several of her poems published by the International Society of Poets. She also won several ribbons and medallions for Best Poet of the Year and Editor's Choice Awards.

When my youngest brother was murdered by his so-called friends, it almost destroyed my mother. He was only 23 and was considering a career in the military. I don't think, as most mothers would, that you ever get over a loss like that. She did write several poems in his honor and I think that did help in some respects.

When Mom retired, she worked in her beautiful gardens, cutting flowers for the children to take home to their mothers. She visited people in retirement homes and read to them. She wrote letters to veterans so they would know that someone cared. She donated books to libraries and used items back to the Goodwill. She drove people to doctors visits or to the store for groceries. She even remortgaged her house for me when I got into financial trouble.

Mom loved animals and took care of all the squirrels, birds and cats that would come onto the property. She spent a fortune on feed and seed so that the animals would never go hungry. Her gardens were the talk of the neighborhood and people would often come by and take pictures. Mom lived in a bad neighborhood, but she would always stop what she was doing to talk to a passerby.

My Mother gave more of herself than anyone I know. She was warm, loving, funny, talented and there is nothing that she would not have done or endured for her family. She overcame every adversity with grace, style and pure guts. She was tested over and over again, but managed to survive it all with a smile and a song.

Before my mother died a horrible death from Cancer, she feverishly worked on a book of her poems and short stories with her favorite pictures of me in it. As always, Mama was thinking of someone other than herself. I will treasure that book always as a reminder of what a Mother truly is; unselfish, to the very end.

Learn more about this author, Nanette Piotrowski.
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