Ode to Mijn moeder | My hero, my strength and my compass

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After I got to a point where I decided to start a new life, I thought I had invented that power myself. But in reality, I learned to look at life through the lens of your eyes. Through your gaze, I discovered how you always knew how to see new opportunities and build a better life, even in the most difficult times.

You began this journey long before me. At a young age, you found yourself in a foreign country, with three children for whom you had to care alone. With no safety net, no security. And yet, where many would break down, you found the strength to keep going. You chose not only for us, but also for your own happiness.

You are my greatest example. You have shown me that happiness does not come naturally, but that it is a choice. A choice you have to make, no matter the circumstances. You have taught me that strength does not mean never stumbling, but that e always get up again.

All this time I thought I had found this strength within myself. But now I know: it is your strength that flows through me. You are the reason I understand how strong I am, because through you I have seen what it means to be brave.

You put your dreams on pause, to make ours possible. You reinvented yourself, again and again, as you built a home for us in a world that sometimes seemed cold and harsh.

Mama, your story is intertwined with mine. Everything I am and everything I hope to become rests on the foundations you laid. You are not only my mother. You are my hero, my strength and my compass.