JASMINE-ALEXA: Nominate to appreciate

I've been umming and ahhhing as to post this or not, the content is quite personal and I haven't really shared my past with many people...especially not on my blog! But when I heard about the "Nominate to Appreciate" competition hosted by Tuscany Now which is a luxurious travelling company renting private homes in Tuscany I wanted to take part and win the Weekend away for my mum!

Down to the nitty gritty! Who I would like to nominate:

Without a doubt the person who comes to mind instantly is a woman that I truly admire, she is a woman who has gone through some tough times that some people could only imagine.

This woman is my mum (aka Mamma.T) I know a lot of people may choose their mum, but I truly believe that she deserves this experience.

After having so many hopes and dreams and letting life and people quash these I feel that she is one of the most amazing people I know. She is strong, intelligent and a wise owl, being a single parent she choosing being able to pick me up from school and spend every second she could with me over her career which I respect so much. She didn't have the support from my dad to help bring me up but always taught me that I was loved no matter what and it was my dad who was missing out not me.

We have been through so much together and she has kept me strong even through times I didn't think I could be. We didn't always have the money other families did and I didn't always get the latest tecno gadget everyone else had, but she taught me values, she taught me to dream and to "reach for the sky and you'll catch a star".

She taught me to wait for things, to appreciate things and not lot let anyone or anything make me feel like I wasn't good enough.

She taught me to be independent, how to cook, how to pay bills and how to have fun on a budget something that has made me a better person and excellent with money.

Growing up watching her go through an abusive relationship was heart breaking and after finally having the courage to leave the man who told her she wasn't good enough to become anything it became me and her "against the world". Despite going through the pain and grief of losing my uncle tragically at sea she kept strong for the both of us and did everything she could to keep me at the same primary school so I "had one thing that was stable in my life" despite us moving quite far away from my school.

Not long after this we went down the homeless road being put up in a hotel for a few weeks until the council could find us accommodation, although this sounds like a luxury living out of a suitcase not knowing where we would end up was a scary concept. Shortly after this the Council were delighted to tell us they had found us a house, eager to move in NOTHING could prepare us for what we moved into. The house was in the most un-believable state possible there were wires hanging out of the walls which electricians told us if we were to touch them we would be dead immediately, grass so tall it nearly reached the fences, needles covered the garden from neighbors drug habits and worst of all human faeces smeared in one of the bedrooms. It was a disgrace and after countless calls to the council my mum had no luck as they didn't want to deal with the problems that had dumped us in. For the further months we lived there my mum did her best to make the house a home, cleaning the place up setting up my room and re-painting the bedroom walls but after countless gas leaks she took action and threatened to go to the local papers to which the council immediately responded and re-housed us. Since then I've heard the street we lived on was that bad they demolished the houses and re-built them.

Our next home was a flat which was built in a block and had an arrangement of neighbors from drug abusers to parents in a similar situation to my mum, it was quite a scary place to live but she made it a home and every Christmas despite not having tons of money she still made it magical. We used to pack sandwiches and sit by the river and dream about what our perfect house would be, by the sea with two horses called Sky and Bramble...that dream kept us going and kept us from giving up all hope.

About a year after living here we then moved for a final time into a cute mid terrace property, covered in pink chip wood wallpaper and laced with green marble effect stick on vinyl. This felt safe, like home and the first room my mum decorated was mine. She's been an amazing person and although she feels like she didn't always make the right decisions in life she taught me so, so much, that life is for living and now even though I've moved out she still treats me like her little baby sending me home with a bag full of food shopping and stuffing a tenner in my pocket towards petrol money and leaving me notes in all of my bags telling me how much she loves me, signing them "love from your mad mum" with a smiley face. She is the most selfless person I know and she deserves the world!

She has always supported me and after years of people telling her she wasn't able to achieve her dreams she has finally gained the confidence to go for her desired career!

After training towards a degree in counseling she is currently volunteering for IDAS which is a team that devote their time to people in abusive relationships. A team that she wants to give something back to and hopefully become a full time counselor there.

Losing my granddad when she was just 16 was tough on her, popular with an Italian family and coming from a background of chefs it's been my mums dream to visit Italy itself If I could do one thing for my mum it would be to win this competition, to give her a deserved break and celebrate her blooming career she so, so deserves.

mum you are my soul mate, my rock and I love you to the moon and back.