that's me..the former teenage welfare mother..that's where I began this journey. In a long line in the stifling heat of summer in Los Angeles. From a 2 transfer bus trip , sweating and pregnant..no one offers up a seat to the teenage mothers here. Got spit on by a woman at the mall the day before. It was the height of the "teen mothers epidemic"
I'd never been a part of an epidemic..
I was one of "those" "them" the less then..the moochers of the state.
I stood in lines..all day. And then they turn you away because it's closing time. Then where to sleep that night? How to eat? The calls to adoption agencies, because "wouldn't that just be better?" because everything and everyone was better...better than me. I almost believed it.
"NO! No they're not. I am brave. I am strong. I will be a better mother than my own had been. I can do this and someday he will do great things...you'll see"
In October I wrote this post http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=whitneymum
And tonight we got his college acceptance letter. My son is going to a well respected university this fall.
The teenage son of a teenage mom. yea, there's a huge triumph here
My son worked SO hard for this. He never waivered in his dedication to get into the college of his choice. And in his application essay he wrote about us, in that tiny apartment, sharing the food bank food box and thinking like it was Christmas..and all the other "adventures" of taking Christmas trees home on the bus, of walking in the rain, of hopping the bus downtown to sneak into the art musuem. Of life LIVED, no matter the circumstance.
I adore the gift of being proud of him. I am blessed beyond measure..and this is one of the happiest nights of my life.
thanks for sharing it with me, there's no family around to share in this, nobody but you guys would probably even get it anyway.
thank you my sisters!
I'd never been a part of an epidemic..
I was one of "those" "them" the less then..the moochers of the state.
I stood in lines..all day. And then they turn you away because it's closing time. Then where to sleep that night? How to eat? The calls to adoption agencies, because "wouldn't that just be better?" because everything and everyone was better...better than me. I almost believed it.
"NO! No they're not. I am brave. I am strong. I will be a better mother than my own had been. I can do this and someday he will do great things...you'll see"
In October I wrote this post http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=whitneymum
And tonight we got his college acceptance letter. My son is going to a well respected university this fall.
The teenage son of a teenage mom. yea, there's a huge triumph here
My son worked SO hard for this. He never waivered in his dedication to get into the college of his choice. And in his application essay he wrote about us, in that tiny apartment, sharing the food bank food box and thinking like it was Christmas..and all the other "adventures" of taking Christmas trees home on the bus, of walking in the rain, of hopping the bus downtown to sneak into the art musuem. Of life LIVED, no matter the circumstance.
I adore the gift of being proud of him. I am blessed beyond measure..and this is one of the happiest nights of my life.
thanks for sharing it with me, there's no family around to share in this, nobody but you guys would probably even get it anyway.
thank you my sisters!
. I am so happy for you both.
