“I had already been to college before high school,” Jayson Tatum said in 2016. My mother gave birth to me at the age of 19. It was her first year of college. But she was hell-bent on avoiding poverty and dropping out of school altogether so she wouldn’t add her name to the list of statistics.I accompanied her to class as a result.Oh no!

From the time I was a little girl until I was around eight years old, I accompanied my mom to school every day. I recall sneaking snacks or engrossed in a book or video game while sitting in the back of her classes. I sat quietly and listened here and there because I found most of her teachers to be dull and too talkative. I, on the other hand, had my own priorities, and she had hers. Things seemed to be going according to plan. That was our course of action. My mom would send us to class together when Grandma had to work and we couldn’t afford a babysitter.Oh no!

Additionally, my mother had earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from St. Louis University by the time I was in sixth grade.Oh no!

Her law school graduation is an event I will always remember. There were no absentee grandparents or cousins. I got out of my pants and button-down when they yelled out my mom’s name, and I yelled out, “I love you!” That’s great!I told her after the ceremony that she did it, but she corrected me. We succeeded.Oh no!We would spend our evenings together at the dinner table when she was a student. A lot of us were completing our assignments. I would ask mom questions regarding my arithmetic homework as she walked briskly between the kitchen and the dining room, preparing dinner. (My mother had a gift for explaining complex mathematical concepts in a way that even a child like me could grasp.) Before I would go to sleep, mom would put me to bed and then spend hours at the dining room table, where she would study, read, and ensure that she stayed on top of her own studies.