My mom is Superwoman

I have the best mom in the world.

And I am not biased in this. It is simply fact.

I honestly don't think my mom has a mean bone in her body. In the 27 years I've known her, I've seen her selflessly serve others on a daily basis, and never once have I heard her complain about it. I know there were so many times growing up when I was a selfish and demanding little child who didn't always say thanks for the amazing things my mom did. I didn't even always realize just how gracious her actions were.

But I do now.

My mom always puts others before her, and I will never forget one instance where she literally took all of the weight on her shoulders for me. I was in either late elementary or early middle school, and our family went on a ski vacation one winter. I hadn't gone skiing in a while, and I actually hate it. (I found out my senior year of high school that I really enjoy snowboarding, but I genuinely hate skiing.) But, the rest of the family was skiing, and I wasn't really given another option. The Merrills don't like to play around with wimpy stuff, so Skipper decided the first run of the day—my first attempt down a mountain in years—should be the most difficult one the resort had to offer. Bad idea, Pops.

She always finds joy in rain.

He, my brother, and my sister all zoomed down the slopes and were out of my view in no time. My poor mother, who is actually just as good of a skier as my dad, waited for me as I fell almost every eight seconds or so. Did I mention I hate skiing? I was getting beyond frustrated, and my dear, sweet mom just kept on encouraging me. Honestly, if I were her, I would have wanted to yell at me and then ski down the mountain while I wallowed in my own self pity. But, she's a much better person than I am.

After too many wipeouts, I ripped off my skis and said I was finished. I started walking down the mountain, quite clumsily, however, because the skis were awkwardly bigger than I was, and they were far too heavy. I wanted to sit down and cry like a toddler. I think I came pretty close. Rather than get angry with me for being such a child, my mom took the skis from me and skied down the rest of the mountain carrying my skis for me. In that moment, I realized I was the daughter of Superwoman.

You know what's even more amazing about this? She never held this over my head. Not once did she bring it up later so that she could get some sort of accolade or make me feel any guilt. Instead, she just did it, and that was that. (Trust me, I heard about it enough from the rest of the family, though.)

To me, my mom is a living example of what Jesus wants us to be. She is the epitome of what it means to be humble, she never speaks badly of others, and she constantly shows love to everyone around her. You cannot meet this woman and not have a smile come across your face. Seriously, it's not possible. Life hasn't always been easy for her, but she shows more strength and perseverance than anyone I've ever known, and I can't express how proud I am of what she has achieved and what she continues to accomplish and strive to accomplish. She helped inspire me to pursue my master's degree, because she got hers while working full-time and having a family. Oh, and she did this all right around the age of 50. She is amazing.

Even though I am 27, I love the fact that my mom still calls me every single day, even when it really feels like there is no purpose to her call. She always ends her calls with: "Love you, bye." Never fails. The word "love" is always there, because that's the biggest part of her.

My mom loves as Christ taught us to love, and I couldn't ask for a better person to call mom—or Superwoman.