I would roll my eyes and say "you do not get it." I thought love was supposed to be messy and passionate and a little bit reckless. I thought she was just scared.

Then I got older. I made mistakes. I gave too much to people who gave nothing back. I stayed too long in places where I was not wanted. And one night I was sitting alone in my apartment, exhausted and embarrassed, and I heard her voice in my head. Not nagging or gloating. Just saying the same things she had always said.

"Not everyone who smiles at you likes you." "Love is not supposed to hurt like that." "You are allowed to leave."

She was not trying to control me. She was trying to protect me from lessons I would have to learn the hard way anyway.

Now I call her just to hear her talk. I ask her opinion on purpose. I tell her she was right and I was wrong. She never says "I told you so." She just says "I am glad you are okay."

I do not know when I became an adult who admits her mother was right. But I am glad it happened before it was too late to tell her.

Do you have a moment like that with your mother? Or with someone who saw things more clearly than you did?

Olga💟