One time, in 6th grade, I received a writing assignment to write about a major event in my mom’s life. To me, the choice was obvious: her journey to America. I thought, “All right, I’ll just write something good enough to pass; not extraordinary, not amazing; just average.”

But I was wrong. As I fired questions at her, I learned the hardships of just coming to America, and how she had to adjust with practically nothing and no one. She had to face saying goodbye to an old life and adjusting to a new one. The worst part was the loneliness, she recalls.

When she first got there, everything was strange to her; she only recognized a few words, and her words were heavily accented and broken off. She was scared; she barely knew anyone, couldn’t drive, and was already suffering the first pangs of loneliness and homesickness. Nevertheless, she continued to persevere, working hard to try to settle in this new environment, still struggling with speaking, writing, and other adjustments, but slowly making progress. Soon after college, she got married, and soon after that, another lifechanging event occurred: she had a baby, and four years later, another one. She probably had no idea that her life was about to change, that her whole world would soon revolve around her kids.

Now that I look back on it, how often is it that a mom would still offer to help on a project even after the child had just yelled at her for a small mistake? That a mother would still come knocking on the child’s room right after the child has stormed in, slamming the door? That a mom would willingly stay past midnight just to help the child on a project? Not many children can say that. But I, proudly, can.

And I am proud to have this mom, not any other, because I know that she will always be there for me, and every time I stumbled, she was there with my back. Every time I made a mistake, I yelled, screamed, threw a tantrum, at her, she was still there. She never gave up, and that’s one of the qualities I admire most about my mom. She may be stubborn and still have her faults, but her good qualities overlap her bad by ten, twenty, a thousand times. She may not be perfect, but no mom is, and she is one of the best there is.