Single Mom

Potatoes, salmon, seasonings…

While my eyes scanned through the recipes, my legs hurried from one aisle to another.

It was my mom’s birthday today, and I stopped by a grocery store nearby to buy the ingredients for her birthday meal. Every year when her birthday came around, she always mentioned how she wanted to go to a specific fancy restaurant.

“Samantha’s family went to Michelin’s for her mom’s birthday! Oh, the pictures she showed were amazing, and the food! I really would like to try it someday.”

Though I couldn’t take her to the restaurant on my budget, I could at least make the food they serve there. After I purchased all the ingredients, I hurried home and started making the food listed on the recipes.

“Is this too much pepper..? Is this soup supposed to be this watery?” 

I paced around with uneasiness, checking the measurements again and again. By the time I finished all the dishes, it was time for my mom to get back from work. I wrote a note along with her present when the doorbell interrupted me.

Ding Dong-

“Is anyone home?” my mom asked in the dark living room.

“Surprise!” I exclaimed.

My mom’s face lit up and she hugged me tightly. I excitedly led her to the kitchen revealing my hours of work, hoping she would find it to her liking. When she sat down and picked up her fork, I started to have a nervous and anxious feeling. ‘Would she have preferred just going out for dinner? What if the food isn’t to her liking?”

After she put down her fork and didn’t say a word, it made me think ‘was the food that bad she’s too shocked to talk?’

“Um.. Mom?”

“I know this isn’t what you wanted… I really wanted to take you to that restaurant but I couldn’t afford it and-”

“You took so much time and effort, just so I could have a wonderful dinner.” She smiled and looked at me lovingly.

“But, you didn’t get the dinner you wanted, Mom.”

“This is better. I bet Samantha didn’t make her mom dinner for her,” she laughed.

I felt relieved and happy my mom was satisfied with her birthday. We chatted and watched movies together, and I quickly fell asleep in her arms.

My mom opened the card I wrote and smiled,

‘Single moms are the greatest heroes.”