LIKE YOU, BUT NOT LIKE YOU

The people we love most shape who we become. But growing up is learning what to carry forward—and what to leave behind.

December 2025

Dear mother,

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LIKE YOU, BUT NOT LIKE YOU

I want a woman like you, Mother.
Loving, gentle, protective of those she holds dear.
A heart of gold, kind to her children.
A steady foundation for her family.

I want her to be like you.
Independent, full of good faith.
Someone who stays even in times of despair,
Who carries our cross beside me.

I want her to be attentive.
To give love without hesitation.
To be fair, even in adoption.
A strong, kind woman, adorned with passion.

I want her to be like you, and yet, not like you.
Someone who knows how to listen without becoming defensive.
Who chooses understanding before turning away.
Someone who is like you, and even more than you.

I want a balanced love—
One built on dialogue, respect, and passion.
A woman who does not bring our problems before the world,
But works through them in private, without hostility.

I admit it—you remain a model to me, Mother.
Imperfect, like every human being.
Full of strengths and flaws, none of them in vain.
Your life has been a guide, a worthy example.

You are not my past;
You are my foundation.

From you, I am an extension.
Like you, a heart devoted and sincere.
Not like you—better than you,
Something more complete.

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Author’s Note

A parent is more than a parent. They are our first model.

As child, we live under the influence of that model, absorbing its strengths, its fears, its habits, and even its contradictions.

Years later, as adult, we can finally revisit that inheritance and ask:

What do I want to carry forward?

And what ends with me?

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Mirror Question:

Which line stayed with you?

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P.S.: Coming this Wednesday:

What if some of our deepest wounds were built around stories that were only half true?

In the next reflection, we explore what the child could not see.

With clarity,
The Mirror Room
Odel A.