My mom is a very thoughtful woman. I remember when I was 17 and on an international trip for two weeks to Australia and New Zealand my mother made sure I was greeted with messages from her at each new hotel stop. Mind you this is the pre email era, right at the beginning of the explosion 💥 of the internet. So she called each hotel and left messages with the desk for me to receive upon arrival. As the only black kid on the trip, who was designated as the group “Aborigine,” (Native tribal people of the Australian bush) knowing that I was loved that far away made me feel special and gave me what I needed to not let social and economic factors ruin a trip of a lifetime.