Peggy or Not (Here she comes)

So what do you get when a tall southern white lady from the country decides to adopt a sassy black kid from the inner city? Well, if we’re being technical you have the movie The Blindside with Sandra Bullock and a height role reversal, but if we’re being literal you have the mother who adopted me, Nicole Moore Macon.

One week after my birthday in February of 2017 I started back going to church with my best friend. As I started going to church with her on a weekly basis I got to know her church family very well. One of the women in her church family was a woman named Nicole, she sang in the praise and worship team at the church. Nicole attended the church with all of her family including her husband Brad, their four children and her in-laws.

My first interactions with Nicole started with me just talking to her casually at church among everyone else before eventually becoming connected on social media. In a funny way, this is where a bond began to be built. Me and Nicole both realized we had a shared love for the rapper DMX and we always talked about him a lot because he was a top favorite of both of ours. I was always using bad language on my social media and Nicole was always watching. Every time she saw me post something vulgar or use bad language she would comment on my post telling me about how I needed to stop being bad on Facebook. I thought it was funny at first, but then it began to feel like she had genuine concern for my behavior in the outside world and I really didn’t know what to make of it all. Eventually she gave me her phone number to contact her if I ever needed anything and then I began to ask myself why does it feel like this woman kinda cares about me?

On average me and Nicole were always joking around with each other. I would pick on her for being tall and country and she would pick on me for being short and bald. It got to a point where I would call her by the nickname “Shaq” and she would call me “Muggsy”. I eventually found out that Nicole’s first name is Peggy and to this day it’s the main name I call her by much to her annoyance. Aside from the jokes we ended up at a place where Nicole was seemingly checking on me very often out of genuine concern. I wasn’t the most accepting of her concern and what seemed like she genuinely cared about me. One day when I was posting bad language online she showed up at my job at Bojangles to tell me how much she didn’t like it and it was a big wow moment. On this day she met my work mother and they became friends.

One day I decided to ask Nicole why does she act like she really cares so much for me and her response was simple: “I really do love and care about you. I see the good and potential that the Lord has put inside of you and I want you to be your best.” I found this hard to believe at the time and rejected her and spent a lot of time trying to push Nicole away, but she refused to go away. She just wanted to be here for me and every time I closed the door on her she just kept kicking it back open. Every time I asked why she gave the same response: “Because you are my son.”

Nicole’s family also became my family. Both of her parents see me as their grandson and all of her children call me their brother. Nicole once told me that she always wanted three sons and that when she adopted me in love she finally had that third son. When Nicole’s oldest daughter Alexandrea got married I was an usher in that wedding. Next year her youngest son, JR is getting married and he chose me to be one of his groomsmen. When I mentioned this to Nicole her response was: “Well, you’re his brother so what else did you expect.”

From here on Nicole made me part of everything in her life and she became part of every important part of my life. During every holiday and birthday she always gets me a gift and on every gift she writes “To Joe, From Mom”.

On my 26th birthday she drove up to my job with a birthday cake and sang happy birthday to me in front of all my coworkers and customers.

Fast forward over six years later Nicole is still my mother. She made a promise to me a longtime ago that she would always be my mama. We have a bond that a lot of people have an ignorant or confused mindset about. Many see us and ask why does that black boy call that white woman his mother and why does that white woman call that black boy her son? Though the ignorance used to bother me, Nicole’s mindset about it has always been don’t worry about what anyone else thinks because we’re family no matter what.

I have always said that after my mother died Nicole was one of the two women in my life who my mother asked God to watch over me after she passed away and that’s how Nicole became my adopted mother. Me and Nicole have been through a lot together. We have seen our share of good and bad just like every mother and son and through her faith in God she has helped me to grow and be a better person. I will always and forever be thankful for my other mother Nicole Moore Macon (Peggy).

Dedicated to my mother who adopted me in love, Nicole Moore Macon (Peggy).

Her response to my every “I love you” is “I love you more ❤️”