Mom completed her treatments. We threw a small backyard celebration. My wife baked. My dad played music. Our little one crawled around in the grass.
Later that evening, Mom told me, “You’ve always been a good son.”
“You were there when it mattered,” she said.
A few months later, I used some of the emergency savings they’d built for me to take HVAC night classes. It took everything in me to manage school, work, and family—but it changed our lives.
Two years later, I finished my certification and started my own small HVAC business.
My very first official job? Fixing the cooling system at the community center where Mom volunteered.
I didn’t charge a thing.
When I got back to my van, there was a note taped to the wheel in her handwriting:
“Never forget where you came from. You never have. And we’re proud.”
I sat there for a long time, holding that note.
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