My Mother's Advice (no cost)

Me and my Mom

Not really a running post, but thought I would share this anyway…

I remember the morning I left for college (it was a while ago, but stay with me).  It was early in the morning and my mom was still in bed.  I walked in her room to say goodbye and she said something that has always stuck with me.

For this to make any sense, I'm going to have to give you a little background information (sorry).

I grew up as the youngest of five kids (only boy - you can start feeling sorry for me now).  My dad had left us when I was pretty young (he kind of disappeared while we were a family of missionaries in Haiti – not going into all that right now – you’re welcome).

The Moore's in Haiti

 

Anyway, my mother raised all of us pretty much on her own.  She worked a ton of jobs while getting her GED and then while I was in middle school and high school she went to Morehead State University and graduated with her college degree.

I always knew I was going to college, but we really didn't have much money and my mom was not going to be able to help me with any of my tuition or living expenses (I know she would have loved to help, but she was still trying to work and pay back her own college loans).

I was lucky enough to have been accepted to a really good school (a really good school that was really expensive).  I had already joined the military; served a year and transferred to the reserves before starting school, but that was still not enough to cover the costs.

 

The deciding factor for me going to this school ended up being a generous academic scholarship that I received to help cover a big part of my tuition.  I knew I still needed to find a way to live, but at least I was going to be able to go.

Me and my Mom on my 40th Birthday

I was nervous, but not about the academics.  What really had me on edge was that I knew there were going to be kids at this school with families that were way better off than mine.  For the first time in my life I was nervous about the car I drove, the clothes I wore and pretty much all the other usual crap that goes through a kid’s mind when they go off to college.

 

I also knew that although my scholarship was going to cover some of my food expenses it was not going to cover them all (I ended up being right about this part and spent plenty of days eating crackers and ketchup that I took from the cafeteria).  Some of my classmates from that time will probably remember my weight fluctuating and my fraternity brothers will probably remember how often I was late with my dues, sorry – a guy has to eat sometimes J

Kind of strange to think that this might have been the beginning of my need to eat as much as I could whenever I had the opportunity (wow, I had not even thought of that until I wrote that last sentence – thanks for sharing in my therapy session)…

So, back to that morning…

As I sat on the edge of my mother’s bed saying my goodbyes, she looked at me (somehow she knew how I was feeling) and said something that I will never forget; something that made it okay; something that got me through some really tough times.

 

She said, “Noah, just remember who you are.  Remember where you have been and where you want to go” and then she added the thing that has really stuck with me, “and remember it costs nothing to be a good person and to be good to other people”.

Think I’ll go for run now…