There isn’t a single day that goes by that I don’t think of my mother. She was a single mom raising four kids in East Baltimore. How I approach people and how I interact with people are things that my mom taught me. She taught me to be respectful and would say that “Being kind doesn’t cost you anything.” She demanded excellence from me and my siblings. The essence of who she was, her kind character, strength and ability to persevere remain with me.
One of the things that I miss the most is having a cup of coffee with her after work. We would talk about my future plans and I’d talk about my problems and seek her advice.
When I was in high school my Mom demanded that we all have dinner together several times a week. She would look into our eyes and ask what we had been doing. She would call it her check-in. Moms always know when something isn’t right and she wanted to make sure that the conversations didn’t have hints of something else going on with her kids that needed her intervention. She’d say, “I don’t want that kind of behavior coming into this house.”
When my mother thought I didn’t study hard enough she would say, “Nobody can want anything in life more than you. I can’t want things for you, you have to want it.” And I’d study harder.
I wish I could have my mom back. Since you only get one mom, cherish her.
–Edward C. Jackson, PhD
Chief of Police for the City of Annapolis
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