A long sentence for mom

Bethel University digital journalists thank their moms ahead of Mother’s Day for the big and little things, such as Hush Little Baby, Miranda sings and huevos con weenies.

I know you, Anne, you are the type of mom who goes out of her way to buy Reese’s candy for me and then proceeds to sneak it into her kids duffle bag without them knowing because they care and know God’s grace.

Anyways, thanks, mom, for putting up with my constant activeness before you gave birth to me, my kicks and hectic movements, for giving me a green and blue blanket and 2 koala stuffed animals when I was born because you already loved me and decided that I deserved a gift for being born and making it into this world, for letting me to be free and run around the house even though I was so out of control sometimes that I would hit my head and scar it on a plate or the driveway, for when you continue to ask me “you doing ok?” and still continue to ask what is going on if you know that I am lying, for loving me when I make mistakes and advocating for me as a person who deserves to be loved, for forcing me to go to Woodland Hills church and the “heroesgate” program because you valued us to know Jesus and wanted to do all you could for us to find Jesus, for coming to my in-house basketball games even when dad and tiffany and dad’s grandparents were there yet you still came to see me ball out, for forcing me to choose an instrument to play in orchestra because you knew that music is an opportunity you don’t wanna miss, for forcing me to also to do piano lessons at Northwestern University with curtis baum even though I argue against it and was sick and tired of it, for telling me that my first girlfriend was not “good for me” and was “toxic” when I couldn’t see her or myself from the outside looking in, for forcing me to take AP classes even when I didn’t believe myself and couldn’t see where AP Human Geography might lead me in the future, for letting me try many different sports so I could find Ultimate Frisbee and have some fun, for being able to put up with your parents even when you were extremely fed up and exhausted because grandpa came over and mowed the lawn again, for laughing at my impressions of “Miranda sings” with honor, for talking to me late into the night even though you have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. and it was 2:30, for always looking out for us kids and loving us when we didn’t know if anyone loved us, for telling me the truth about the divorce and being vulnerable so I could recognize that bringing the dark to light destroys evil and exposes us to something that is bigger than us. There are so many more things that could be said to me, mom, but one of the best things you did for me was force me to find maturity because there was no other way. So, thank you for being you — a resilient, gracious, funny, strong, and incredible momma. I love you. ~Toby Becvar