When I first started dreaming about playing in the NBA I would envision buying my mom a house. I would dream about what the house would look like, and my moms face as she explored her new mansion. There would be no more bills, or lights cut off, every financial need would be taken care of as soon as I signed my contract.

Since I can remember I’ve always been very protective of my mom. I think being the youngest boy had something to do with it. So once I started working towards my dream I would always keep the image of taking care of my mom in the back of my head. When’s bills started to pile up and money was low I would tell my mom not to worry about it because when I make it to the NBA she would never see another bill again.

One day I asked my mom what was the first thing she wanted when I made it to the NBA. I was positive she was going to say a mansion. The house we were living in at the time was fine but I knew my mom would of loved something more. To my surprise my moms answer took all of two seconds to think about it. She was vacuuming at the time, she stopped looked at me and said “a Mercedes Benz with bone interior”. I almost passed out. I repeated my question and received the same answer. My mom told me that’s all I have to buy her and she’ll be happy with that.

No mansion for Tina Thomas! All she wanted to do was drive around in her new car that her baby boy got for her. So since I’ve been about seventeen thats been my mission. I never really brought it up again, just occasionally when times were tough.

The first thing I thought about when I blew my Achilles tendon was how long would it take me to recover from it, the second thing was my moms Mercedes. I had to recover to make this dream come true for her. After all the things she’s done for me and my other siblings the least I could do was get her the car she wanted. My dream was for two, it wasn’t just about me. I could play basketball for free, all I needed was a roof over my head, but I needed the money for my family.

I would be the worst millionaire in the world, because after my family and friends were taken care of I’d give money to people who needed it anonymously all over the country. My financial advisor would probably want to shoot me but I wouldn’t care. I grew up with just enough and having an elevator in my house wouldn’t be necessary for me.

When I stopped pursuing playing professionally and started coaching I lost track of the second part of my dream. I was coaching at a junior college that paid me about as much as a sweat shop worker and a Mercedes Benz is a little bit more expensive than it used to be. When I left my junior college job to coach where I am now (Blair Academy) I felt it was a big step in the right direction. The second part of my dream came back in focus, but now there was a little problem.

About three weeks ago I reminded my mom about my dream of getting her a Benz and how m still going to do that no matter how long it took me. She smiled and said, “baby boy you can just get me an SUV like the one you have, I don’t want a Benz anymore”. I reminded her how that’s all she wanted back then, and how that’s all I’ve ben wanting to do for her since I was seventeen. She gave me a hug and said, “baby how is a Mercedes going to get me through the snow”?

My mom gave me something to shoot for when I was younger without me realizing it back then. Focusing on getting her that car hit me through some tough times. Whenever I had a bad practice or didn’t want to workout I would sometimes think of my promise to my mom and I’d get through it.

Going through life without goals is a life without meaning. You’d be waking up every day content with here you are. Figure out what your Mercedes is and go for it.