Spotlight ✨ Sunday ✨ // Mammy O' Connell

In a way this Spotlight Sunday is a little bit different. In some ways it's not. Spotlight Sunday, for me, is all about people, places and products that I feel deserve some recognition. But this week I won't be talking about my favourite tattoo artist or inspirational girls who are out there hustling every day. This week I want to talk about the woman I look up to the most; my mother.

(Plus today is Mother's Day and what better way to celebrate my mother than to right a post about her?)

If you know my mother - even just to say hello to her - you will know just how positive she is. The woman is literally never in a bad mood. She's a lady who loves talking and conversing with people and just generally sharing good vibes. Seriously, the woman could talk the legs off a donkey. She's also immeasurably kind; I have woken the woman up on several occasions to tan my back and never once has she complained (surely that's a superpower?!). She has always instilled in me and my siblings that it costs nothing to be kind and to above all, show love. It's because of her that I have a positive view of the world and look for the best in people.

My mam is also an incredibly hard worker. She worked 7am-5pm shifts Monday-Friday for 11 years in a meat factory where the work was hard and I never once heard her complain when she got up before the sun had. She has carried this quality into every part of her life and showed me that even though life has its ups and downs, you have to show strength. In 2011 my mam lost her mother and then two years later, her husband; my dad. For anyone, this could be an excuse to give up. To throw away the notion of being nice, to quit trying to always do good. But not my mam. The first month after dad died was particularly hard what with us celebrating Christmas. For many families, Christmas is about family more so than the birth of Jesus - well for us anyway - so to be celebrating when you didn't feel like it I know must have been hard for her but throughout the whole ordeal she kept going which I think gave us the strength to aswell.

Now don't get me wrong; me and my mam argue but I have found that the older I have gotten, the closer we have become. Especially when dad passed away it made me realise how precious not only life is but family. And I think it's something that my mam has always known because she lives her life to the fullest and never stresses the small stuff, never caring if she looks silly.

It's a cliche to say but my mam is who I look up to the most. So if you're a mother, then I hope you're having a fantastic mother's day - what ye do (being a mother) is hard work and I applaud each and every one of you. I just hope that if I have a child he/she will admire me as I much as I do my mam. Because I know they'll love their crazy grandmother.