I was five years old when my daddy died from a heart attack in 2015. I called my mom “mommy” then, and I still call her that at 16. My daddy had been a stay-at-home parent while my mommy worked full time. After he died, she had to grieve her husband while becoming the only parent and provider for my sibling and me. When she returned to work, my sibling and I stayed with our grandparents. What was supposed to be a safe place became abusive. They physically and emotionally hurt us, kept us locked in a basement, and told us our mommy caused our daddy’s death. When they tried to stop her from picking us up, she contacted the authorities and fought for us in court. They also tried to gain custody, but she refused to let them take us. The court ordered them to have no contact with us. She moved us halfway across the country and made sure they never knew where we lived. She gave up her own family to protect ours. My mommy has spent my whole life standing up for my sibling and me. My sibling is autistic, and she co-founded a nonprofit that raised autism awareness and provided educational tools for local schools. She also served on special education and autism research committees to help other families. She made sure we never felt alone at school events. She attended both mother and father events for us. We celebrate her on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day because she fills both roles. She still helps others while facing challenges of her own. Since being laid off almost two years ago, she has continued looking for work while completing a second bachelor’s degree and starting an MBA. She is also working toward an alternative teaching certification because finding another corporate job has been difficult. She volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused or neglected children and as a crisis counselor for The Trevor Project. My sibling and I are LGBTQ+, and we have always known we would be accepted at home. My mommy supports LGBTQ+ youth because many young people do not have that same acceptance and support. She encourages me to volunteer, work hard in school, and express myself through art. My art represents my thoughts and feelings, including things I cannot always explain with words. In 2024, she helped me start my own art business. I now sell my artwork at local festivals, and she and my sibling help at every event. Because of her encouragement, I rank in the top 1% of my high school class. I earned guaranteed admission to the University of Texas at Austin for Fall 2027, where I plan to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art. My tuition is covered because we are a low-income family, but housing and food will cost about $19,000 each year. She has promised to pay off any loans I need for college, but I do not want her to carry that burden after everything she has already done for us. That is why I am working hard to earn scholarships. Growing up with a single mother taught me that strength does not mean pretending life does not hurt. It means protecting the people you love, working toward your goals, and helping others even when you are struggling. My mommy’s example gave me the ambition to attend UT Austin, the drive to build my art business, and the desire to use my experiences to connect with others. Everything I have accomplished began with her believing in me.