I love my mom, most people do.  She is 84 years old and adopted me as her own in her early 60s and worked hard to provide for me. She sacrificed a lot for me, even though she did not give birth. I needed a mother as an infant and she was the one willing to step in and assume that role.

My mother has worked hard all her life. She grew up poor in rural Alabama and learned a hard day’s work before her teens. She would pick coton for a nickel an hour, with no shoes. Her parents were tough and wanted to make sure she was brought up right. Always determined to succeed, she will press something as hard as she can until it gets done. She hates to disappoint people.

At 84, she still works as one of Atlanta’s most renowned and respected real-estate agents.

For mother’s day, I decided to draw her a picture. This is my standard gift, because it’s next to free for me and is something special and unique to the person I give it to. Anybody can give someone a piece of jewelry that has 10,000 counterparts. I can give them a work of art tailored individually to them. She doesn’t really like “the weird things” I draw, though she’s always been supportive. It was hard for me to not draw something silly and a little strange, but I settled on a portrait of this photograph:

Mom in her 20s

Mom in her 20s

Of course I still did it in my style, so it looks like my work. Just, this time, no one has a goofy look on their face.

Click for big!

And here is one more bonus old picture of my mom!

Mom in her teens