What constitutes a good person, what words can describe them?  Loving, a friend, supporting, generous all these words can be used to describe my mom.  My entire life the one person that has been there for me the one person to pick me up when I’m down, the one person I can tell anything to, the one person that will do anything for me is my mom.  She is and will always be my best friend and the sun on my darkest days. But what if she can’t be or do those things anymore what if something happens.

February 22, 2015, I was in the sixth grade, 11 years old, up until that point my mom had done everything for me.  There was nothing particular about this day, I can’t remember anything that happened at school those memories are covered by the looming cloud of what was about to happen.  However, when I got home there was one thing that I remember before the rush of the storm, I had gotten into an argument with my brother, about what I could not tell you. I attempted to call my mother she was always there to consult my feelings to but there was no answer, I assumed she must have been busy.  An hour or two goes by and as per usual I hear my dogs bark as they did whenever someone would come home even my mother or father. My mom always came home from work before my dad so I expected her, to my surprise it was my father. A feeling of suspicion falls over me; the looming cloud is approaching. My father sits us down so he could talk to us; the cloud blocks out the sun.  There was a moment of silence; the calm before the storm. “Your mother has been hit by a car” the deafening boom of the thunder echoes throughout my brain. My ears ringing, those words repeat over and over again, I’m paralyzed, I’m frozen in time, I’m overwhelmed with emotion and the rain starts to fall. As I wipe away my tears, my father tells me she’s going to be alright. In the eye of the hurricane I felt glad to hear that she would be alright, but as we know just outside of the eye is the strongest part.

   The worry was the worst part, what I did and didn’t know with the limited information I received.  My dad zoomed off after he broke the news to see my mom in the hospital so, I wasn’t told much. As I went to sleep, I was worried definitely but I had no clue how worried I should be.  I woke the next morning to my father home letting me know that he was going to pick up my mom from the hospital in a few hours.

 My father told me not to come with him to the hospital for reasons I do not remember.  The feeling of impatience sets in as all I want to do is talk to my mom. When she finally gets home I see my mother in crutches weakened but still the sun in the middle of this dark day.  I talk to her for a while about what had happened, she had told me she tore 3 ligaments in her knee. Then, we left the eye of the hurricane and the storm resurfaced I knew we were in this for the long haul.

 Three surgeries later, and many doctor’s appointments we get to now.  My mom is not what she used to be she was strong, encouraging, supportive, a friend.  Now she is all those things and more. She may not be able to do all those things she used to for me, but my definition of strong, encouraging, and supportive have all changed.  To be strong is no longer what you can do for me, it is your bravery and your resilience. To be encouraging is not to cheer me on it is to be a good role model so that I can be half the person she is.  My definition of supportive is no longer helping me when I’m sick, it’s a person I can count on to be my rock. However, she is still my friend in the exact way she used to be.

 Consider what your loved ones do for you and never take advantage of that. A person that can take care of you is still a good person, but a person who has been in the middle of a storm and became their own sun is better to me.  So, this brings us back to the question of what constitutes a good person. I believe there is no real answer to this question it’s subjective. But no matter what light you put her in my mom will always be considered a good person to me.