Every May, women across the world are celebrated for being mothers on Mother’s Day.

Usually, for the most part, it’s for the mothers who raise and help their own children through life and all its obstacles.

Sometimes, definitely more times than not, the women who guide children, who they did not conceive, are left out or forgotten. If praised, just not enough.

Let’s face it, it takes a special kind of person to not only raise their own children but then to assist others.

I’m thinking of a special woman who not only raised her own three children, but then took on the responsibility of another child. Not just a child, but a problematic teenage boy who was in and out of trouble every other day.

There wasn’t a Saturday he wasn’t in school.

There wasn’t an in-school suspension without his name on the list.

He knew the staff at the detention home, and they knew him.

Many counselors had them in their chairs, whether at school or a clinic.

During a seventh-grade dance, he was banned from all others after knocking down a kid with a swift jab and then dropping a flying elbow on his head in “Macho Man” Randy Savage style.

He was kicked out of eighth grade after punching a kid in the stomach and driving his head into a locker after a comment was made about his biological mom. The suspension led to an expulsion.

Without acceptance to public school, the teenager had to ride in a chauffeured van to a school 45 minutes away to learn, study, and take tests on a computer during alternative school hours.

After finishing the program and receiving the junior high diploma, it wasn’t long before he was back in the correctional system as the kid joined an older family member he looked at as a role model to steal. The list of stolen property was long, and so was the sentence in juvenile prison as he went to three different institutions throughout the state during his time.

By time he got out of prison, his freshman year had come and gone.

Thankfully, he took tests and was picked on by others in jumpsuits because he studied, but  he was allowed back in public school as a sophomore, and although there were a few rough patches, he was able to graduate and was accepted into four different colleges.

There were adult pains with a summer in county jail eight hours after freshman year in college ended, DUIs and alcoholic behavior, messy relationship breakups, job firings and quitting, and a car accident.

Throughout everything, absolutely everything described above and way beyond, this woman was there.

She talked to him. Told him he was wrong. Gave him examples of what could have been done different or different ways he could have thought about certain situations or actions. Let him know there were different options or paths than the ones he was taking.

There was always a seat at the table for him.

There was always a seat in the car for a fun trip, vacation, or just to ride around.

There was always the warm, welcome embrace of a hug or smile to let him know things would be alright if he wanted them to be.

He always knew he was loved.

He joined the National Guard. He graduated college. He began his journalism career in February 2005 and it hasn’t stopped since. He has won eight writing awards. He has been a public speaker for both his career and to young kids to not make the same mistakes he has. He officiates baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball games to give back to the kids, community, and sports.

The now 30-something man is part of community nonprofit organizations and for-profit associations which help the community grow.

And although it takes something inside an individual to push past demons and to change surroundings and associates, they can’t do it without support.

That someone to make them realize they matter, and they can do good things.

From that 12-year-old pain in the butt to the grown man who is determined to do all the good he can in any way possible, thank you. The biggest thank you EVER.

I could never be in the place I am or do the things I’m doing if it wasn’t for you.

Happy Mother’s Day