Thank you Mom!
Mother’s Day is coming up on May 14th. It got me thinking about how thankful I am
for my mother’s love and help over the years. Narrowing it down, how helpful she was in getting me through college.
First of all, my mother was the one that took care of the
finances in our family. She taught me
the importance of paying bills and paying them on time. In college, when I got a bill for anything,
I tried to pay it RIGHT AWAY. I did not
completely understand why at the time, but I knew that was important. That trait taught to me by my mom, has
helped me to this day in to having good credit. There are many of my friends
who didn’t have that ingrained in them and their credit still is recovering
because of what they did in college. THANK YOU MOM!
My mother also filled out the FAFSA form for me each year. You need that form to apply for financial aid. It is funny now to think after almost 19 years at ICAN (and the
thousands of FAFSAs I have helped families fill out) that I didn’t have a clue
in college on how to fill out the FAFSA form.
Without her help, it wouldn’t have gotten done. THANK YOU MOM!
One of the biggest sacrifices my mother made was going back
to working full-time again to help me with my college expenses. She had quit working and become a stay at
home mom not long after I was born. My
parents used the money that my mom earned to pay for my living expenses (room
& board) so that I did not have to borrow money. When I got out of college, my amount of student
loan debt was only half if not less of what it could have been because of the sacrifice
that she made. THANK YOU MOM!
Lastly, my mother
has always given me her unconditional love. She was always there for me even when I made dumb choices in college
that caused problems. She would tell me
that they were dumb choices but she helped me find solutions to resolve them. Not in the “Helicopter Parent” way but
more in the “I will always be there for you no matter what” way. THANK YOU MOM!
I hear from some parents in this job that say their parents
didn’t help them pay for college so their kids are going to pay for school on
their own. I am glad that I didn’t
have parents (neither went to college) that thought that way. They considered
it their duty as parents to help me through school. As I see it, the only way I can pay them
back is by doing the same for my kids.
To all the Mothers out there, I hope you have a Blessed and
Happy Mother’s Day! To my mother,
Robbin, I Love You and Thank You for
all you have done for me!
PS - Dad, you will
get your appreciation next month. :)
Erick - ICAN Ankeny Center
