A Letter To Mom

Ole Miss student Ashley Page (right) and her mother, Cheryl Page.

It’s 11:30 p.m. in Oxford, Mississippi. As I’m watching Netflix (not that this is a surprise), I hear my phone buzz, and it’s a text from my mom. All it says is “I love you!,” and it hits me. This woman that I sometimes ignore texts from or take her weekly laundry duty for granted, wholeheartedly loves me. I know it’s somewhat obvious that my mom loves me because, you know, she’s my mom. But, we fail to remember that our mothers, parents in general, need validation that we love them as well.

In college, you leave your home that you’ve been nurtured and raised in for 18 years, and you get dropped into a town full of other people just as naïve as you. During freshman year of college, I became closer to my mom than I ever thought possible. Several of my friends felt the same way.

Elizabeth Carr (left) and her mother, Beth Carr.

Elizabeth Carr said, “During my freshman year, I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it. I just knew it was too hard, but my mom always reassured me that I was meant to succeed.”

My mother was my go-to from break-ups to failed test, and through all that, she never once told me “I can’t talk right now” or “I’m busy.” And, it makes me think about the countless times I’ve told her, “I’m at dinner with friends” or simply being short to her.

I was speaking to my best friend Phaedra Craig the other day, and she mentioned how stressed she became over school and knew her first call needed to be to her mom.

“I knew she would answer regardless of the time of day or what she was doing, and I was right,” Craig said. “She picked up the phone immediately and listened to my worries.”

Phaedra Craig (right) and her mother, Phyllis Crenshaw.

Over the years, I’ve heard many of these testimonies, and it makes me realize the magnitude of a mother’s love and the extent they will go for their children.

So as I enter my last few months of college, I can’t help but attribute my success in college to our 1 a.m. phone calls.

-The 1 a.m. phone calls where I’ve bawled because of schoolwork.
-The 1 a.m. phone calls where I couldn’t understand why I had friends betray me.
-The 1 a.m. phone calls where I didn’t know what my next step was, but she ensured me I was strong enough to go on.
-The 1 a.m. phone calls where I simply needed to hear her voice
-And, ultimately, the 1 a.m. phone calls that lasted forever, and afterwards she prayed for strength for me.

So if you get the chance, call your mom and tell her “hello.” And, for a rare occasion, ask her how her day is because she’s the one person that is never too busy for you.

Ashley Page is a senior broadcast journalism major at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be reached at acpage1@go.olemiss.edu.