When I was 12, I thought the world revolved around birthday parties, baseball cards, and fitting in with kids who always seemed to have more than I did. So when everyone in my class was buzzing about the upcoming baseball game in town, I begged my mom to take me.

We barely scraped by back then. My mom worked as a janitor at a mall—long hours, tired feet, cleaning up after people who never noticed her. But all I saw at 12 was one thing: we didn’t have money for tickets.

When she told me we couldn’t go, something ugly and childish snapped inside me.

“You clean toilets all day and still can’t buy me anything!”

The moment the words left my mouth, I saw her face crumble. She didn’t yell. She didn’t cry. She just… turned away.

And for days, she barely spoke to me. No gentle kisses on my forehead before school, no humming while making breakfast, no soft laughs when I told her something silly. The house felt heavy—like I’d sucked the air right out of it.

Then one afternoon, I came home and found a small folded note taped to the bathroom mirror.

My heart raced as I opened it.