(Lead: Story Question Technique)

          Mom always prided herself on handling rough situations with great strength and determination. When grandma was in the hospital, strong enough for everyone was Mom. When Dad was laid off, money tight, she was as sturdy as an iron pillar supporting a skyscraper. But the day she walked through the front door an hour earlier than normal with a look of stunned fear on her face, I was nervous.

(Description Followed by a Quote)

          When she walked through the door, she looked at me with brown eyes that could have torn me apart if I would have stared at them longer. They still advertised a deep love and respect for me, despite what she was about to tell me. Leaning against the dining room chair, face in hand, Mom heaved a great sigh. She looked at me once more with a determined look, determined to let it out, to get it over with. As a glistening tear rolled down the finely drawn lines of her cheek, she opened her mouth to speak. She said simply and understandably, "I'm out of a job sweetie." She then laid her face into her hands and wept.

(Exposition)

          Cleaning in a quiet tedious sort of manner, Mom simply bumbled around the house, as if studying every inch of the house she had worked so hard for.... As any normal eight-year-old, I busied myself with school and such. I knew only that our future was uncertain, and uncertainty was frightening. I would hear my mother's sobs sometimes through the walls at night. I could feel her tears flowing. All I wished for was her to work once more and have everything back the way it was.

(Narration with Touches of Description)

          Three months later, after plenty of waiting, the first glimmer of hope showed. This piece of hope came in a small white envelope with our address and my mother's name typed neatly on it. It was a letter for Mom to come to an interview. … My mother's face showed a new light, as if God had taken that glimmer of hope and attached it to her. The mother of old returned once more, laughed, and made jokes. The night the letter came, I caught her crying, and immediately assumed the worst. As it turned out, those were tears of happiness, not of sorrow. Those were the kinds of tears we had been lacking for a long time. ...

(Narration with Quote)

          The day of the interview, I didn't pay attention in school whatsoever, too excited for Mom. Running from the bus stop, bursting through the door, I rushed into the house after school. I looked into the eyes of my Mom. Without any words being spoken, with no looks exchanged to give the secret away, I knew she got the job. I could simply tell by the way her eyes shone bright and strong. She succeeded. I could tell we would be fine. I hugged her, and she started to cry once more from joy. I looked into her face and the first thing she said was, "I love you."

(Summary Conclusion)

          My Mom always possessed a strength, which until it was missing, I never understood. That strength is what held us together through good times and bad.