In my almost 34 years I’ve heard mothers referred to as “the real MVPs” countless times, but it’s never been delivered with more truth than Kevin Durant did a few days ago. Watch the whole speech to grasp its full power, but he addresses his mother directly starting at the 23:00 mark. For my mom, for my sisters, for my friends, for myself, I’ve transcribed that part of the speech below. Mom, we love you so much, you make us so proud, and so incredibly thankful, every moment.
Happy Mother’s Day.
And last, my Mom. I don’t think you know what you did. You had my brother when you were 18 years old. Three years later I came out. The odds were stacked against us. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. Everybody told us we weren’t supposed to be there, we moved from apartment to apartment, by ourselves. One of the best memories I have was we moved into our, our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, and we all just sat in the living room and just hugged each other. ‘Cause that’s what when we thought we made it. And when something good happens to you, I don’t know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. You’d wake me up in the middle of the night, in the summertime, makin’ me run up the hill, makin’ me do pushups, screaming at me from the sideline at my games at 8 or 9 years old. We wasn’t supposed to be here. But you made us believe. You kept us off the streets. Put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn’t eat, to make sure we ate, went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You the real MVP.
[Standing ovation.]
Srinivas Ayyagari 