Unsung Heroes- My Mom

We hear so much these days about heroes and honoring heroes while we rarely hear about the unsung heroes in our everyday lives. I’d like to see them honored hence I’ll write on occasion about the ones in my own life.

I’d like to write about the first hero in my life that I think of and that is my mother, Jean Gonzales. She was born to a single mother as her dad left before she was born and never returned. Her mother was forced to work because in those years there was no safety net for single moms. With my Grandmother being gone in the day my mother mostly raised herself.

My mom married the love of her life when she was 19 years old and stayed devoted to him for 58 years. When he became diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer she devoted herself to finding a cure for him. She spent countless hours researching natural treatments and sure enough each of the treatments would stem the rate of the cancer growth. She kept my dad alive for 5 years using natural treatments before he had to go thru Chemo.

When I was in high school my mom returned to adult high school and earned her diploma. She then went on to earn her LVN. She worked for several years as a pharmacist assistant and her earnings went to buy each of her children a bedroom set of their choice.

My mom, like many moms, is incredibly supportive of her kids. She always thinks of her kids first. She does little things like all of our shredding, makes lunch for Danny on occasion and collects Leaphorn books for me. She also does a larger job, all of my filing.

When my dad passed I arranged for his frequent flier miles to be deposited into her account. One day she asked if I’d find out about using some of her miles for my brother Danny and his wife to go to D.C. I did that and they were able to have a really fun trip. Last year she decided to give her remaining miles to my brother Mike and I to go to China. She had about 6 miles left after all of that giving, but as she put it, she went everywhere with my dad and has no desire to travel now that he is gone.

As a grandmother she is the one that the grandkids turn to for advice. I’m often surprised how often they all call her to let her know what they are doing. They text her and send her photos via the cell phone too. She has learned to text so gets a message right back to them and shows the photos to anyone who will look at them.

I know that my mom doesn’t have a lot of money, but she does give everything she has within her. She has retained her quest for knowledge, a quest for adventure within her new parameters and her love for her family. I only hope that as I age I can keep those qualities as well.