My Beautiful Mommy

I was born a happy child. My laughter came early and has always rang loud and proud. But tragedy befell a too new life. I was taught hard lessons that made me serious too. My mommy was sick, and she had tried to hurt me. But what hurt me more than the beatings was that she was taken away from me. No matter what she did, she always would be my beautiful mommy.

I was raised by my Grandma, my father’s mother. Between six months and 6 years I learned by her side that life was hard but it was also what I made of it. She taught me that I could do anything I wanted to do with my life. Most importantly I learned that I didn’t have to be defined by the tragedy. I loved my Grandma. She gave me the mothering that all children crave and I thrived. But when my mother came home, I was torn away from the only maternal love I had ever known. That was something that took me way too long to forgive my birth-mother for taking away from me.

My mother’s name was Shirley. The very first character I created when I became a performer I also named Shirley. I will never convince anyone that this is not psychologically significant, but the fact is I just think that “Shirley” is really a funny name. I tell my story about my mother and the creation of character for the Japanese TV show “New Yorkers”:

It is so good to watch this video today. Here I stand living proof that I must have had a mother. I am grateful that I had a chance to reconcile with her before she died. That gave me the freedom from the tragedy at last and wings to take flight into what seemed like a brand-new life. Despite her illness, Shirley taught me a lot about life, about love and family. On this Mother’s Day I pay homage to my mother and thank her for giving me this life. I love you Shirley. You were and always will be my beautiful mommy.