A Mother’s Day appreciation message to my biggest inspiration
To the woman who proved you can do anything you set your mind to
In today’s world, living isn’t easy. If it isn’t the unclean planet we live on that gets us, it’s the cost of living itself. It is very difficult to make enough money to live comfortably in this world, and sometimes I wonder how I am going to do it. Even if I do work my ass off and make all the right decisions, could I still end up on the street? Maybe, but if there is any story that will make you want to push yourself to the limit, let me tell you a little about my stepmother, Courtney Spaeth.
Courtney is the CEO of a successful business development company – with a husband, two stepchildren (my older brother and I), and a new baby boy of her own. But it wasn’t always clear that she would get to that point.
Shortly after Courtney entered college, her family lost everything overnight and in order to realize her dreams of graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and attending graduate school, Courtney found herself – still as a teenager – not only in the position of having to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars for her education but to settle her family’s substantial debts. A lot of people in her position would have given up.
What did she do? She got her degrees, worked multiple jobs, lived in an attic, and almost starved herself in order to save money. She went on to work for the Clinton White House, the Defense Department, and some of our country’s largest defense contractors before deciding to start her own business. Eventually she was able to satisfy her family’s obligations and, only recently, pay off her student loans.
Despite her success, Courtney continues to work extremely hard everyday to be able to support our family. She and my father pay for my education at Pitt, and she also pays for most of my activities ranging from living in New York to getting my nails done. She does absolutely everything in her power to make sure that my brother and I, and our baby brother Grant, can have a life full of happiness and endless opportunities.
I can honestly say that if it weren’t for her pushing me to do my best at the end of high school, I may not have gotten into Pitt or any of the other five schools I was accepted into. I would not have had the humbling experience of spending a month volunteering in a poor section of a Caribbean island. I would not be able to afford to live and intern in New York or drive around Potomac, Maryland (my home town) in my beautiful Lexus SUV (named Anastasia – she’s my baby). I would not be the independent, bold, daring, strong person I am today if she had not stepped in after my mom passed away and built me up to be fearless and not take shit from anyone. She is my inspiration.
I know that it won’t be easy, and it hasn’t been thus far, but the way I see it I will be successful if I can become half the woman she is. And to be frank, the effort she has put in and the sacrifices she has made to make it so that I can live my dream and intern for Harper’s Bazaar and Badgley Mischka this summer are incentive enough to do everything in my power to kill it and become the next editor of a top tier fashion magazine. I will be successful. I will work hard. And I will be happy. I will do it all, thanks in no small part to her.
And she loves my dad to pieces and as the most important person in my life, there’s nothing more I could want for him.