It was a regular day after school. I had been in aftercare until four fifteen in the afternoon, which is when my mom always picked me up. I climbed into the back seat of her car, and she got a phone call, which was not unusual for this time of day. When she answered the phone, I heard her apologizing and speaking in a timid voice. As we reached the red light she began to bite her nails and fidget with her clothes. After she hung up the phone, I asked her what was going on. She explained to me not to worry because it was just a work issue. As we rode home there, I started thinking.

Before now, I had never seen my mom bite her nails on the phone or act in this timid sort of way. Up until this day, my mom had done everything right, especially when it came to being my mom. My mom was my superhero and no one could tell me otherwise. On this day, I realized that my mom was just another person. Just like me and all the people around me, she makes mistakes. My realization made me feel uncomfortable on that day, but today I see the importance of it. I now know that my mom is not the perfect woman that I pictured her to be. That woman does not exist in my mom, or even in anyone else for that matter because everyone has their flaws. I remember being so shocked to find out that even my mom had them, but she is a normal person. At first, it was weird to picture her as a regular person because she has had such a huge impact on my life. In reality, she is a regular person that has a normal job, lives in a normal house, and has a normal family. It would be easier to put her on a pedestal forever and choose to only see the good, but she is so much more than that. The day that I made this realization I saw my mom biting her nails. Today, I see this happening all the time. My mom is one of those people whose nails are always stubs, so much so that she never gets her nails done. Before that day in the car, I am sure that she had this habit, but somehow that was the day that I picked up on it. This point is just a small detail of what I remember from that day, but it is one of the most important ones to me. Being able to physically see my mom’s flaw made it all the more real because now I know that it is a nervous habit that she has. However, I realized that just because it was a flaw, it did not make her imperfect.

My mom is a flawed woman, but her flaws are what make her so strong and without these flaws, she never would have been able to become the woman that she is today. Because she is the way she is, I am able to be the strongest me possible. I now realize that being perfect is not what makes someone great. Instead, it is their flaws that give them their differences. My mom is not the perfect woman I once saw her as. However, I can now see her in a different way, which is better than being perfect.