A Tribute to My Mother – by Adeoto Samuel Omolaolu I’ve read quite a lot of books that talked about appreciating what you have before life teaches you to appreciate what you’ve lost. I never really put this phrase into much thought TILL the day I lost my mother. I don’t mean that as if I didn’t appreciate her as a mother ⎯ I did ⎯ in every way I could think of. I remember being ill a few years ago and throwing up all over my mom’s room and she just told me to sit down. So I watched as she cleaned it all up and I remember her tripping on the vomit and falling a couple of times but she cared only about getting me to the hospital. She was the most selfless, carefree, down-to-earth person I know. Mom didn’t care about physical appearances. She could see the inner beauty in the ugliest person. I remember making promises to myself on different occasions that when I grew up, I would give her the most comfortable life anyone could possible want. But I do know that everything I could ever provide her with on earth is minute in comparison with what she has with God right now. So now, I’m making a new promise: that I will fulfill all her wishes for me on earth. I will work hard, I will be successful, but most important, I will find God, which is what I know she wanted most for me; and after fulfilling that on earth, I will eventually join her in heaven. May your beloved soul rest in perfect peace, mom. Much love, your son, Adeoto Samuel P.S: For everyone that is grieving, I’d like for you to not remember how mom died but to remember how mom lived.