T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
GOOD EVENING TXK COLUMN BY BAI LEY GRAVITT
Imagine you just spent your VERY last dime on a totally-worth-it, scrumptious, mouth-watering honey butter chicken biscuit from Whataburger, and you don’t get paid for another three days. Every bill under the sun is due RIGHT NOW! You don’t know how you are going to make it, and you feel like you are drowning… but you desperately NEEDED a biscuit. This is an example of my own financial irresponsibility, but like with most single mothers, my mom has never had the luxury of such self-indulgence. For the past 24 years of her life, my beautiful, strong, independent mother, Terri Gravitt, has done it all on her own, and she has never considered the choice of financial irresponsibility. She knew hers was not the only hungry mouth to feed. My two brothers and I were counting on her and she made sure we always understood we were her top priority. After finally escaping my dad, she didn’t just feed us physically, she fed us emotionally, mentally and spiritually, and taught us about the most important man to ever walk this earth—Jesus. She concealed the fear and anxiety of her newfound loneliness, cried and prayed in rooms all alone for many nights, and she held back
the anger she was experiencing by blaming herself for the situation we were all thrust into so she wouldn’t take it out on us. A whole day in May is set aside for mothers, but that does not even begin to do my mom justice. However, I will do my best with these next few words to highlight what a phenomenal person she is, just in time for Mother’s Day. My mom is an incredibly gifted writer, but not being one to often believe in herself, she hasn’t always seen that. As she does each month, she wrote an amazing article in this very magazine, so make sure you check it out! She once even had dreams of writing a novel, a dream I hope is eventually in the Lord’s plan for her life. I am grateful Jesus passed down her writing genes to me because I love getting to express myself, and now my love for her, in this way. Before I ever stepped out in faith, not knowing if the floor was going to collapse below me, my mom acted as my example and took the first steps. Life truly begins when you step out of your comfort zone, and my mom has consistently embodied that truth and taught me to do the same thing. There is no one in this life who will build me up more than my mom will. There is no achievement she won’t celebrate me wholeheartedly in, no heartache she won’t offer up her best (and
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S P O R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T
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