A postcard momma bakes mailed me that was cut from a Cheerios box. I didn’t know my family started eating Cherrios since I left for university.

I probably couldn’t get through university without my mom (momma bakes). Since first year, she has sent me several pieces of mail per week (I’m not kidding). Everything from stamps, to candy, to family photos, to cards, to gifts cards and more. Whatever can fit in a regular sized envelope, she sends. She’s never been to university, she’s hardly goes past our town’s boundaries, but she knows that it’s not easy.

This Cheerios post card she mailed me is one of the greatest pieces of mail I’ve ever received from her. The clipping from our address book that had a drawing I made when I was really little was also great. So was that time she mailed me Halloween candy and I opened it up in a lecture, with looks from fellow classmates, and began explaining what my mom does as I offered them treats in a forestry lecture.

Academics have been my biggest struggle at university. I’ve often felt like I couldn’t get the grades I needed in my classes, do well on assignments, or dig myself out of the constant low grades I was receiving in some courses. These cards let me know that even though I’m far from my mom and she knows nothing about university, I’m not alone and I’ve got a mom cheering me on from our small town in Ontario.

Lately, I’ve tried to remember the things my mom tells me. I’ve been passing it onto residents as their Residence Advisor and I’ve been keeping them post it notes in my room to remind me that things will work out in the end. Today, I put one of her phrases on my hand to put things into perspective. “This too shall pass.” When you are so far in, it’s hard to see that the present is so insignificant to the greater scheme of things, and that this is not the end of the world if things aren’t going your way. Everything will work out the way it is supposed to and whatever is the low of your day will not carry on forever. That’s exactly what I need today. Also a little, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Because I can’t change my bad grades, or the bad choices I’ve made, but I can focus on improving the future. That’s what I’m going to do. Thank you, momma bakes.

A photo of momma bakes and I at the ROM in Toronto, the summer after first year. She left our town’s boundaries that day, I had to be the one who drove to Toronto for us.