In 1979 my mother (pictured here) and my extended family immigrated into the US and made a home of Philly. For thirty-seven years my mother’s worked as a Registered Nurse in the Critical Care Unit in a West Philly hospital without ever a complaint to my siblings or me about how tired she was or how difficult it must be learning an entirely new language of medical terminology; I mean, she just kept her nose in her work, in her books, and kept working. I often look at pictures of her when she was my age and I wonder how she did it; she registered us for school, she worked double and triple night shifts, she purchased a home for us, and she put us through college – and she never complained, really – she never asked for support or a shoulder to lean on (even when I’m sure she needed it). Her love and support for my siblings and me has been a model for I hope to make my family, my friends, and my partners feel every day.