My mother does not exactly have the largest presence
She stands at a tall five foot one
She’s quite small, in essence.
She seems average from head to toe
But my mother
She’s one of the strongest people I know

Ever since I was young, my mother has supported me
Through all the basketball and soccer
All the instruments
All the karate.

But we used to fight a lot
We still do.
But it’s different
They usually sort of end with I love you too.

I remember that one time
We were fighting that same fight
That everyday “who gets the bathroom first” fight.
She won like always,
Leaving me full of spite.

It was that same fight
That everyday fight
But next thing I knew
She was throwing up blood
Lying in a hospital bed in the ICU.

She has a brain hemorrhage they said
In kid speak, that meant there was blood in her brain
She was bleeding in her head.
Good thing you got here so fast
The doctors said
One more hour
And she would’ve been dead.

When we visited she tried to act alright
But she couldn’t even look up at the lights.
She was so strong
I tried to be strong too
I was so grateful she managed to pull through.

When I look at my mother now
I see her appearance
But I also see her strength
Her willpower
I see her for the incredible woman she is.

Even when I hate her
When my anger cuts through
I love her
She’s the person I look up to.

She supports me
She argues with me
She teaches me
She laughs with me
And she almost died on me.

So believe me when I say
That someday
She’s the kind of person
I want to be.