Tujunga Tribune: Happy Mother's Day Mom

As Mother's Day approaches I want to tell you a little bit about my Mom.

She was born and raised in Denmark, during the time of the Nazi occupation. She has told us stories of what it was like to live as a little girl in a country occupied by a violent, Fascist regime; a country later racked by the violence of a world war. I won't recount the stories here but I will say that I am amazed at some of the horrible things she witnessed and experienced.

In the years following the war, she watched as her mother slowly died a painful death from a condition that now can be easily treated and cured.

Mom wanted to come to the United States to forge a new life for herself so she put in the time and effort going through the legal process to obtain the required visas. Once here she worked hard in factories, faced bigotry, and went through the long legal process to obtain her citizenship. She became a citizen and eventually married.

In her determination to "become an American", she refused to speak anything but English in the home or abroad, (except when she didn't want us kids to know what she was saying) and staunchly followed American cultural traditions so that we would be a "typical American family". "I am an American" was her mindset, and she was determined to do things the "American way".

During much of my childhood, the same disease that killed her mother was slowly ravaging her. Living with pain was a normal part of her days. She would have died during the 1970s, except that the world of medicine had advanced enough that they were finally able to properly diagnose and treat her condition. Even with all that, she still managed to raise, (and put up with), 5 boys.

So on this Mother's day, I honor my mother's courage, determination, and dogged perseverance. Because of her I can say, (as the son of an immigrant), I AM an American.