A Mother's Sacrifice

Hope Jahren had an extraordinary relationship with her mother, and dedicated her book, Lab Girl, to her. Her mother was pursuing a degree at a university when she was forced to drop out and raise a family when she no longer had the money to attend college. She then gave birth to three sons and a girl, named Hope. Hope felt as if her mother's missed opportunity is the reason that she is given the opportunity she has right now. Her mother is a loving and caring mother as in one instance, Hope recalled that her mother had kitted coats, hats, and scarves because her mother "had never had decent ones" when she was a child. Hope's mother did the best she could to ensure a better life for her daughter, from clothing her warmly and providing everything she needed, to potting plants with her and spending silent moments together, she did all she could to raise Hope, and to give her a better future than the one she had. Hope commented that her mother was the "poorest and smartest girl" in Mower County, and she greatly admired her mother. 

Hope at one time looked at the path she had decided to go on and compared to the one that her mother took. She was exhausted working multiple jobs while being a student. On multiple occasions, she almost looked at the the choices she made and only hope that in the future her hard work would paid off. At one point, she exclaimed, "I didn't know if I was crying because I was nobody's wife or daughter". She successfully conducted an experiment, but then she began to doubting herself. As a female scientist, she was out of the gender norm of merely being a housewife, and as a scientist, she had lots of burden to carry; However, she had determined earlier on that she would be an extension of her "indestructible mother" to make real the life "she deserved and should have had".