Miracles and Blessings
Thank You,
M OTHER BY JAMES RATLIFF
PART 2 As I grew older, somewhere around ten years of age, I learned that my father was abusive to my mother. I witnessed my two older brothers fighting with my father on several occasions. I saw my oldest brother try to kill my father with a knife. I felt my happiness fading from that point on in my life. My perspective changed and I was not happy anymore. I began to see my father differently. I did not like what I saw. My father and mother babied me. I felt special with them. My mother told me that the reason they treated me that way was because I almost died as a baby also that daddy falsely accused her of cheating on him. He got drunk and told her that I was not his child. He came back later that day and apologized to her and named me after his father. Those was the reasons they treated me a little different from the rest of my siblings. I did not mind at all. As I watched my father grow increasingly hateful and violent, I vowed never to be like him. I would help women and not abuse them. I
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promised myself that I would be that person who would love others and do good to others. I watched my mother cook, clean, and take care of us. She taught us values. She disciplined us and taught us how to read and write. She would always tell us to make something of ourselves. She was proud of us and loved us more than she loved herself. She gave us all she had, her selfless love and devotion. She was more than a remarkable woman; she was life to us. She lived for God and her children. She made sacrifices so that we could live better lives. Education was key to success for her. She had an eighth-grade education. She pushed us to learn and apply what we learned. She wanted us boys to stick together and not let anything or anyone come between us. She would always say, “you all are brothers, do not fight or lose that relationship for anyone or any reason.” Mother was our rock, our strength, and our security. I believed in her and that will never fade. She was
