Alice McFlurry 
When I was six, I asked for a pair of roller skates for Christmas. On Christmas morning, I opened my present to find a single roller skate.
I knew my parents didn’t have a lot of money, so I was still grateful and determined to make it work and I thanked my mom and dad and went outside to play with my roller skate.
I proceeded to “skate” along the curb with the roller skate on my right foot and my sneaker on my left foot and I was honestly having a blast when my mom came outside.
Mom: Uhhh…what are you doing?
Me: I’m roller skating, mom!
Mom: Yeah, but why are you only wearing one of your roller skates?
Me: There are TWO skates?!?
It turns out my mom wrapped the roller skates separately to give me more presents to open, but the other roller skate got buried in the Christmas morning shuffle and nobody noticed because I didn’t say anything about only receiving one roller skate.
Today marks ten years since I lost my mom and, every so often, I remember that day because it was so very her, doing whatever she could with what she had, even if it meant wrapping presents separately to make me feel like I had more.
If your mom is still around, hold her tightly. If she’s gone, remember the good times fondly.
Rep. Ritchie Torres
NBC News