Love is just a role that we play.

The days are starting to blur together. Seconds turn to minutes. Minutes turn to hours. Hours turn to days. Weeks. Months. It was Mother's Day yesterday. It seems like just yesterday I was creating culinary art for my mom in our kitchen. Strange to think that was a year ago. Even stranger is looking back on this past year and what I've done. The people I've met. The places I've seen. The things I've felt. It grounds you, you know. I miss my mother. I never really thought about it...her love for me. I haven't been the best son around, yet she loves me unconditionally. That alone is enough to make you feel incredible. That no matter what you do, what you say, or what you look like; there's another human being on this rock that can look at you and genuinely LOVE you. My mother has been through Hell and back to get my sister and I to where we both respectively are in our lives, and I've got nothing but love and respect for the woman who birthed me. Growing up in poverty-stricken Mexico, my mom and her six siblings had barely enough to survive. From that, to crossing the Mexico-US border multiple times in order to find a better life for herself, my mom's been through the struggle for the better part of 40 years. As soon as she had my sister and I, and our dad chucked the deuce and left my mom to raise two kids in East Los Angeles, my mom's been working her ass off to make sure we didn't have to go through what she did. In order to make sure of that, our family relocated to northern Nevada in an attempt to get away from the violence and street life we would have been exposed to in L.A. That being said, growing up we weren't wealthy by any means, but my mom made sure we had the essentials. Roof over our heads, clothes, and food. Looking back at it, you never really realize or appreciate that kind of shit, you know? You ask for a new toy, parents say no, and you throw a bitch fit. Hindsight's 20/20, and looking back I'm eternally grateful for the sacrifices my mother made to get me here. I've often wondered if I'll ever be as good of a parent as my mom is, and I tell myself that if I grow up to be half as good as she was, I'll be in good shape. I love you mom.