A Tale Of Two Mothers.

In the years after my mother passed away I knew that her spirit would always watch over and guide me. What I didn’t expect her to do was send two other mothers to watch over and guide me as well, those two other mothers are Christal and Peggy.

Six years after my mom passed away I ended up working at the restaurant Bojangles while I was working on getting back in school at Guilford Technical Community College. After the hard time that I was just struggling to come back from I was very fortunate to have gotten this job when I did. Things were going very well at this job, I started off as the biscuit maker and I got along very well with my coworkers. One person at my job who coworkers and customers seemed to be drawn to the most was one of my assistant managers named Christal Hylton.

Upon my first time meeting Christal I thought she seemed like a strict mama-dont-take-no-mess type of woman and she really was that type of person, but as I got to know her more I realized that she also has one of the kindest and most loving hearts of anyone I’ve ever known. At the time I first started working at Bojangles I was saving up to buy a car, but in the meantime my dad would give me a ride to work and Christal would offer to give me a ride home. As we interacted more on a personal level me and Christal started to become close and she started to view me as a son, eventually only ever referring to me as “son” whenever we talked. Later on I would end up spending a lot of time with her outside of work and even developed a relationship with her family, including her son and daughter who became family to me as well. Christal made it clear with her actions that I am her son and she never told anyone else any different, I even grew to call her “Madré” as a nickname. Another nickname I gave her was “Biscuit-head” given our place of work and how she had a shiny forehead that I said looked like the biscuits I was baking.

Christal always had this naturally supportive maternal instinct that she showered everyone with. Every time one of our young coworkers who was in high school or college was getting ready to graduate, Christal would throw them a big party at work and go to their graduation. When I finally got back in school I asked her did she plan on attending my college graduation after we had a high school graduation party for one of our coworkers and she said yes, with a straight face of assurance. When I finally graduated Christal was there sitting in the front row at my graduation cheering me on with a smile, she kept her word. At one point Christal was out on medical leave after an accident that damaged her leg and even while she was out she always called to check on me and kept up with me outside of work to make sure I was staying out of trouble.

One year after Christal became my mother at work, I started attending church with my best friend from school on Sundays. The more I went with my best friend to church, the closer I became with her church family who all became extended family to me. One person in her church family who was particularly drawn to me in a way that was different from most was a tall woman with blonde hair and a heavy country accent named Nicole Moore Macon. Nicole's first name is actually Peggy, but she goes by her middle name for most people. I on the other hand call her Peggy because I like to get on her nerves, which is why she didn't want to tell me what her first name was knowing that I would have too much fun calling her by it, which I did and still do. Though I had a loving relationship with everyone in this church family, my connection with Peggy was a bit different. I've always been sort of a wild card with a loud personality and Peggy was always quick to call me out on it.

My social media language was very vulgar prior to meeting Peggy and still was when she later got to know me. She would always be the main one to call me out on my bad language and give me long phone calls and text message lectures about cleaning up my act. The more me and Peggy interacted, especially when I was being mischievous, the more effort she put into being closer with me and wanting to be a positive influence in my life, but this process was far from easy. Because I have always been a rebellious person, the closer Peggy tried to be with me, the more I tried to push her away. The more I tried to push her away, the more she made a point to let me know that she is my church-mother and no matter how hard I try to push her away she was always going to be here for me. Like Christal before her, Peggy always acknowledged me as her son and all of her family embraced me as family as well. In the years to come Peggy would make my birthdays and holidays special for me like she did all of her children. Every time she gave me a gift for Christmas or my birthday she wrote "From Mom" on every box or gift bag.

Like every mother and son, me and Peggy have always had our ups and sometimes our downs, and even with my conscious efforts to try push her away, she refused to abandon me and never left my side, making it clear that she was here to stay for good. I never fully understood why she adopted me and loved me as she always has. Her response to this question every time I asked her was simple, "Because you're my son and I love you". Peggy has taught me the true meaning of unconditional love, which is something that can't always be understood because of it's supernatural nature, it's just meant to be accepted. Peggy always understood how different we were from each other, but was unfazed by our differences because she realized that our hearts matched, added to the fact that we both love DMX.

One day when I was at work being vulgar and leaving inappropriate post on my social media during break, Peggy drove to my job to confront me on it and met my work mother, Christal. From there they both formed a friendship through their connection to me, but truth be told that connection was always there. I have always believed in my heart that my relationships with my two adopted mothers was not by chance, but because my mother Ruby Lee Spencer picked them both to watch over me with maternal love and guidance so that I would continue down the path to being my best that she had me on since birth. I am thankful for both of these other mothers named Peggy and Christal. No matter how much they drive me crazy or how much I drive them crazy, I love them both dearly and I always will.

Dedicated to my mothers who adopted me from work and church, Christal and Peggy.