I still remember calling my mom in absolute tears over a C I got on a paper in college. I was an A student, straight As were my thing, so getting a C felt like total devastation. It wasn’t even my final grade, just one assignment, but at the time, it felt like the end of the world. I was dramatic, panicked, and convinced I’d just ruined my GPA and possibly my entire future (classic college meltdown energy).

That was one of my mom’s go-to sayings growing up, especially during our piano lesson years. My sister and I both took piano, and let me tell you, those lessons came with a strict practice schedule. We weren’t just playing, oh no, we had to log a certain amount of practice time before our next lesson, and my mom made sure we hit those numbers. I remember so clearly sitting at the piano bench, hearing my friends laughing and playing outside, and thinking Why me? But there was no getting around it, no practicing, no playing.

There’s a saying my mom always loved: “Even the strongest oak leans in a storm.” It's one of those little nuggets of wisdom that really sticks with you over time, especially when you’ve seen it in action. I remember the time we took my 98-year-old great-grandma to the zoo, just my mom, my sister, and I. We were excited to see the polar bears, but there was one problem: to get there, we had to climb a steep hill. Now, my mom, being practical, suggested we call a zoo staff member for a ride up. But my great-grandma, in all her determination, wasn’t hearing it. “I can walk,” she insisted. And off we went, up that hill, one slow step at a time.

One of the sayings my mom always comes back to is, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” Growing up, I didn’t always appreciate it. I’d hear it and feel like she was expecting the worst-case scenario, as if she didn’t believe in the good things that could happen. At the same time, it felt like a warning to brace for disappointment, and honestly, I didn’t always understand why she was so cautious. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize how much truth there is in this simple phrase–and how much love and care it really holds.

One of the sayings my mom often repeated to me when things got tough was, “All’s well that ends well.” Growing up, I always took it as a comforting phrase, but it wasn’t until I went through the hardest experience of my life that I truly understood its meaning. Back when I was in the final stretch of earning my teaching credential, the world seemed to collapse. The pandemic hit just as I was in the middle of my student teaching phase, and the school shut down completely. I was devastated, my dream of becoming a teacher suddenly seemed impossible. I remember crying every night, feeling like everything I’ve worked so hard for was slipping away.

When I was 16, I was nervous the entire time I took my behind-the-wheel test. From the moment I sat down in the driver’s seat, doubt started creeping in, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t ready. When I found out I failed, I was absolutely devastated. I remember thinking, Who fails their driver’s test? It felt like such a big deal, and I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and defeated. I just wanted to forget the whole thing.

One of my mom’s funniest sayings was, “If wishes were fishes, we’d all have gills.” She’d say it every time my sister and I would start with our endless ”I wish I had this” or “I wish we could do that.” At the time, I never thought much of it, it was just something she said when we were dreaming big about things we didn’t have. To us, it was just a funny way to shut down our constant wishful thinking. But I see now it was more than just a punchline, it was her way of giving us a little reality check.