_{We’re all just a collection of challenges faced and choices made}

_{^{I’ve never met anyone more driven or stronger than my mom. She built her own path when most women weren’t even allowed to dream that big. People still tell me stories about how she helped them - as a doctor, as a friend, as someone who just showed up when it mattered. But at home? She was different. The guiding force, yes, but also the one who word was final. Sometimes that felt heavy.}}

_{^{It took years of looking inward to understand how much she shaped me. Growing up, it seemed like she was the only one allowed to have opinions. But here’s what I see now—she was also my biggest inspiration. I inherited more of her than I ever wanted to admit.}}

_{^{We all become who we are through the people around us, the friends we choose, the random encounters that stick with us. But for daughters especially, our mothers are our first map of what’s possible. It’s not just my opinion—it’s wired into how we learn to be women in this world.}}

_{^{Because of her, I felt brave enough at 17 to pack up and live with strangers in the U.S. for seven months. To mess up, figure it out, and keep going. That same drive pushed me to leave everything familiar later and build a completely new life in a different country. The courage? That came from watching her do it first.}}

_{^{My mom passed away a few weeks ago. Cancer took her, and the whole experience broke me open in ways I didn’t expect. Being with her in the hospital, then having to step into all the decisions she used to make—it was overwhelming. But it also gave me a window into her world. How much she carried as a doctor running her own practice, how much she created with so little support.}}

_{^{Here’s what I learned in those final weeks: instead of focusing on what felt hard about how she raised me, I started seeing the preparation. Even the tough love, the strict rules, the times it felt like too much—it all built something in me that I needed.}}

_{^{I’m grateful for my mother and exactly how she raised me. Sometimes what we think breaks us is actually what makes us strong enough for everything that comes next. We’re all just a collection of challenges faced and choices made. Once I understood that, it changed everything. Today I celebrate my mother and one more year I get to keep learning,  and living my life because of the choices she made.}}