The most rewarding part of being a mother is seeing my daughter grow, learn, become the beautiful human that she is! It is also so rewarding to see bits of myself, and also pieces of her father, who is no longer with us, come through in the way she acts and even the way she does everyday tasks. Lastly, knowing that I can put out such an extraordinary woman into the world is my greatest privilege and reward I could ever receive.

The biggest lesson that motherhood has taught me is to be slow, patient, and in the moment. For forever, I thought that being a single mom meant I had to do everything all the time and that I would never have time to just be with my daughter, but as the years have gone on, I have realized the opposite. So, it’s okay to have a couple loads of laundry sit in the laundry room and it’s okay to have dishes in the sink for a day or two as long as I’m putting my little family’s quality time first.

What I would do with the $20,000 is I would put it towards my daughter’s future success in her education in her childhood and into her adult years. Despite the challenges that we faced with the loss of father due to suicide at 21, I want to insure that our daughter has the ability to achieve her full potential. This $20,000 would help her have the jump start she needs in life missing her father.