LeBron James has so much to thank his mom, Gloria, for and in an open letter published in The Shriver Report, the Miami Heat star writes about his appreciation for her and working single mothers. In his letter, titled "America's Working Single Mothers: An Appreciation," James opens up about the sacrifices his mother had to make as a teenage mom to ensure that he had a chance to succeed. Not only did she lack support and education, but she was also too young to support her son financially. So after they lost the house they shared with his grandmother, they found themselves in bleak times.
"Finally, when I was 9 years old, my mother made a supreme sacrifice," he writes. "She decided that while she was figuring out how to get on her feet, I needed some stability in my life. I needed to stay in one place and experience the support and security that she had felt growing up in a big family. So she sent me to live with my pee-wee football team coach, 'Big Frankie' Walker, and his family. She later said to me, 'It was hard, but I knew it was not about me. It was about you. I had to put you first.'"
James says his devotion to his mother is merely reciprocation for the all that she's done for him. He credits her for teaching him about devotion and uses his experiences to be a good parent to his two sons.
"The truth is that everything I've learned about being a parent to my boys — 9-year-old LeBron Jr. and 6-year-old Bryce — I learned from my mother," he continues. "Everything I know about being loving and caring, and sacrificing and showing up and being present in my children's lives — I learned all of that from her example.
"Gloria James was a working single mother who struggled and got the job done.
"And for that, I say, 'I love you, Mom. Thank you.'"
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(Photo: The Plain Dealer/Landov)