My mom beat cancer while we were homeless and still managed to keep me and my sister fed. All of that was hard as fuck. But she did it. And she did it with a smile on her face, never letting us know how much she was struggling. Because she was protecting us. That’s what moms do. The fact that you saw your mom doing something and not appearing to struggle doesn’t mean she didn’t cry herself to sleep after.

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As an adult, I’ve gotten to know my mother better as a person because she’s willing to let me in more than when I was a kid. I’m sure there’s still millions of things she’s protecting me from. Your mom is your mom, but she’s also a person. And you may not know her as a person, you may only know her as your mom.

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