Actually, let's hear it for all single moms out there trying to turn mean little boys into real gentlemen one day. I spoke to my Mom yesterday inbetween classes and we probably had one of our most open and honest conversations we've had since I was probably 5. I guess it was around that age I began to be afraid of my Mom and what she really thought about some of the things her middle son wanted to do or had already done.

But yesterday somehow I think I really became an adult in her eyes and she talked to me like I was living my own life, not the one her or the rest of the family had planned out. I have to give my mom so much credit and I am so thankful that I could have someone like her raise me. When my Dad split on her when I was seven she was thrown into the reality of trying to raise and take care of 3 very needy boys who most of the time were trying to kill each other.

My mom was fantastic with us, especially with me. When I was 7 years old she took and a bunch of my buddies to Six Flags for the first time and it was there my life changed a little bit. After riding my first coasters there was something inside of me and the only thing I wanted to do after that was go back for more. Over the years we went back time and time again and at that point in my life it was just for the "fun" of riding them that kept me coming back. But one spring break, my mom gathered enough money up to take her 3 sons on a trip, that I look back on now, that will probably be the most influential 3 days of my life.

We packed up the car and headed down to tampa. Just imagine, a 7, 10, and 13 year-old crammed in the car for 8 hours just screaming and fighting; and yet we never turned around like she threatened too so many times. Odd now that I think about it, I don't know if I could have done it. Anyways. After riding my first ride on Kumba, my life was forever changed. I always say it was my first "real" coaster. Smooth, 7 inversions. A lift hill of 153 feet. My first "real Big" coaster anyway. I realized that someone out there had to design these things. And because of what my mom said, I could do it.

Now if you analyze my brothers and me I'm more like the black sheep of the family considering I'm the only out of drugs, went to college, and does not do manual labor. Now, there's a lot of pressure in my family for me to do "something" with my life. But the other day, my mom and I talked and it seemed that for the first time in my life; my dreams became hers. It was about being a doctor like my grandparents wanted, or a lawyer like my dad wanted; it was about what I wanted to do. That support is amazing. But my mom is so much more than that...

She's taught me so much about love and how to treat a lady. Something which I feared I have fallen away from lately, and I feel absolutely terrible. I remember one time I was fifteen and she picked me and my girlfriend up from the movies. We just hopped in. And as soon as I got in the car she yelled at me and made me get back out and open the door for my date. Embarrassing. But needed.

I feel like I owe all my good qualities to her. Now I have to admit I do get my eyes from my dad, but the good stuff is all from her I know. And I know that there is no way I could be sitting here 400 miles from everything I've ever known if it wasn't for her. I don't this doesn't matter to most, but its been on my mind since yesterday and I don't ever want to forget how special the #1 lady in my life is. So ladies if you're out there, you've got a tough act to follow....