I remember when I was younger, my mom gave my grandmother a birthday card with the quote, “In Japan, broken dishes are often replaced with gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object’s history which adds to its beauty. Consider this when you feel broken.”
At first, I thought this was just some silly quote about Japan, but my mom was teary-eyed handing the card to my grandmother. It wasn’t until I grew older I finally understood the importance of those words.
My mom was born in Okinawa, Japan on an air force base. She grew up with an older brother and, like all siblings, they fought. Her father, my Oji (Grandfather), was a part of the U.S. military while my Oba (Grandmother) was working as a banker. My mom grew up moving from place to place. Money was tight for my family. My mom struggled in school, and the neighborhoods she grew up in weren’t great.
Her childhood was pretty hard for her but, being my mom, she made something beautiful and great out of nothing. She had crappy friendships, but she made them into funny stories. She wasn’t smart, but she turned it into a life lesson when I didn’t want to study. Though she didn’t have a stable relationship with her parents, she used it as inspiration to be an amazing mom to my sister and me.
When she attended college in Auburn, she had to drop out due to having me. Later she went back to school and got perfect grades, never failing school again. Afterward, she used her English degree to write grants for nonprofit organizations she believed in. Eventually she took a leap of faith and created her own business, a stationery shop by the name See Amy Draw, or S.A.D for short. She’s now an activist for social justice. She serves her community through her work with a nonprofit that prioritizes music education for children.
My mom faced many challenges during her life: Struggling in school, having difficulty making friends, and experiencing hard times in relationships with her family. She overcame much adversity and today she is the most inspirational and successful person I know. I love my mom. She’s an incredible influence on me and every single day I feel eternally grateful to have her. My mom made something out of nothing. She made her ugly into something beautiful. Now when I visit my Oba and see the card my mom gave her, I feel a bit teary-eyed reading the quote. My mom followed the quote’s meaning and applied it to herself. She added gold to her own broken dishes and made it an important part of her history.
