"Elizabeth, find the hair ribbon, Augie do you have your bat bag? Girls help Bear tie her shoes..........."

Who is the teacher? The chauffeur? The chef? The pitcher? The alarm clock? The nurse? The hair dresser? Who is the maid? The friend? The dog walker? The artist? Who is our personal fashion consulter and our spill cleaner upper? Our gardener? Our Liberian? Who is our mathematician? Our play-maker? Who is our coach? Our life guard? Our tutor? Our hope and shield? Who is our hero?

Who is our teacher?
Our Mother.

Our mother who lived as a single parent for a year. Our mother who takes us to dance, cheerleading, All Stars, softball, tee-ball, swimming, horse back riding, and soccer. Our mother who leads our Girl Scouts. She took Elizabeth to D.C twice on school trips. She took Augie to All Stars every day of the week. All Stars coincided with swimming. All three of us went to different schools. That year she readied the house for the big move to Florida. Our mother who replaced the tile in the bathroom. Our mother fixed the hot water heater when it broke. She did this all by herself. Our mother who went to school for three years so she could support the three of us while my father was gone. She did the yard work; we helped her, but not a lot. She was president of the PTA and did more volunteer work in a year then most people do in their lives. Our mother who spent the summer running Vacation Bible. We got sick often and she had to take time off of work. She celebrated Christmas, Easter and all of our birthdays. Our mother who fed and washed and loved our dog. To make our house look bigger, we put Augie's bed in the attic so my mom slept on the couch and Augie in her bed. Our mother who took us to church every Sunday. Our mother who made us good people. Our mother who moved to Florida and left behind her family, friends, and very thing she loved. Just for our father.

And do you know something? We love her, our teacher, our mother because she would die for us.