I walk home from the van and kick off my light-up Sketchers after a long day at Boca Montessori. After running up our steep set of stairs and flopping on the couch, I am ready to watch the daily “Dora the Explorer” episode that airs at 2 p.m. The TV turns on and I eat perugu anam, or curd rice, my favorite meal. Fairly specific? This is the first and one of the clearest things I remember in my childhood.

I failed to mention a part of this memory, my mom. The person who walked with me to my house from the van, helped me take my shoes off, made sure I didn’t fall down the stairs, turned on the TV and fed me my favorite meal. She is in every special memory of mine, even if I didn’t notice her.

My mom, Gayitri Vunna, immigrated from a small town of Narasannapeta, Andhra Pradesh to Boca Raton, Fla. She didn’t finish college until after her marriage, didn’t know how to speak English or how to drive a car. But, she never complained.

When I was in sixth grade, she started taking online college courses in desire of finding a job. I always questioned why she wanted to work and what she wanted to study. To me it didn’t make sense, the idea of studying and taking tests was never something I would do willingly.   

Since I was young, my mom taught me that there is nothing in the world I cannot achieve. I never completely believed this until she graduated college and got a job. Her hard work and presence in my life inspires me.

She’s a grower, always striving to improve and learn. Whether I knew it or not, she was my inspiration throughout my whole life. Staying right by my side throughout my life through my crankiest moments and my happiest. 

Being surrounded by someone like my mom shaped me to be the person I am now. 

One of the biggest things I’ve learnt from her is to appreciate and respect nature. About once a month she wakes up our family at 5 a.m. to go on a hike. At first, I didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to sleep in and eat a large brunch. However, as I kept going to these hiking trails with my mom I learnt to enjoy it. I enjoyed the time I spent with my family, I enjoyed every time I inhaled the fresh air and most importantly I enjoyed how I left all my worries behind. 

When I heard about this opportunity to write a column for Women’s History Month, I was so excited to write about you, mom. As I’m writing this, my thoughts are organizing and making me realize that I appreciate my mom 10 times more than I did before I wrote this.

​​Follow Nandini Paidesetty (@n_paidesetty) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.