Happy Mother’s Day (or belated Mother’s Day, depending on when you’re reading this)! In honor of today, I’ve decided to write a quick post about my mom and what she’s done for and means to me.

As an only child, I’ve always been very close to my parents; even before the pandemic started, I always made a point to call them once a day. As such, my mom has always been a huge influence on me. When I was a very little child and my dad was at work, she would take me along with her to the community theatre she and my dad worked at whenever she had rehearsals, or when she had to do something like paint scenery. I fully credit my love of the theatre and my current profession as an actor to these trips she took me on. When I did start acting and whenever I’d go to her for advice, she wouldn’t sugarcoat things: she would tell me when and if I was doing a bad job and what I needed to work on. She even helped me curb a rather nasty habit I had: whenever I was in the middle of a scene, I would randomly start smirking or laughing or I would stop focusing on my scene partner and start randomly glancing at the audience (for the record, no role I did back then required audience interaction like that, so this was not me making an artistic choice). By pointing this out, I became more aware of it, and more determined to stop doing it. Today, I am proud to say that I haven’t smirked on stage or glanced at the audience unless the script calls for it. I may be making my mom sound harsh, or like some kind of Mama Rose (although she did once play that role), but by her being honest with my acting, not only has it made me better as a performer, but I know now that when she tells me I’m doing a good job, she truly means it.

Besides what she’s done for my acting, another one of the (many) reasons I love my mom so much is that she’s one of the strongest, most outspoken people I know. Although I was always embarrassed whenever she would call someone out in public, I realize now that she only did so when someone legitimately deserved it, and frankly that’s something that I wish people would do more of today. She actually has continued to be outspoken, even when socially isolated: if you’re friends with her on Facebook, you may have seen her loudly and proudly calling out the many injustices of the world today (which I won’t go into on this blog). More that that, she’s incredibly strong emotionally as well. When my family experienced an event that lead to an internal schism, my mom managed to stand her ground on issues which would have broken anyone else, and she managed to find the positives in a bad situation. Whenever I’m down (which sadly has been a lot lately due to the current situation), she’s always able to offer words of comfort or advice. Also, just as a side note, she’s an ardent animal lover, and has actually (and rather hilariously) gotten into trouble in the neighborhood for feeding a pack of deer.

These are just some of the many things I love about my mother, but if I went on any longer, this post would be as long as Les Miserables (the book, not the musical). In closing, Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I love you, and I hope your day is as fabulous as you are!