Am I a mom or a Statistic?

     I will never forget the first time I was faced with this question. I was engaged in a heart to heart discussion and the listener let it slip that they never knew that through my decision to become an unwed mother,I now had made myself a statistic. " A statistic ?", I thought.What is that supposed to mean? Did I now wear a banner on my chest that said I was destined to failure? Was I now going to become like the young mothers depicted in the news with one kid on each hip and one in the stroller walking the streets? Should I not even try to raise my kids in a structured home with Christian values,because they are going to end up as society says, on drugs,selling drugs, or a high school drop out having made me a grandmother at 40? Am I less than because I am not married to the father(s) of my children? Some may have accepted that fate and never aspired to anything greater.However, I allowed it to anger me into action. I was determined my kids would recieve the same quality education as their peers,emotionally whole minus any developmental deficits whatsoever.The image of the traditional nuclear family may have been absent, but I was present every day for my kids. I may not have been able to splurge their every want and desire, but they were never sent out into the world without a need having been met.So if anyone dares ask me again whether I am a mom or a statistic, I would declare I am all that my children need me to be and there is no name for that.