After they struggled for years to make ends meet, a daughter opened her home to her mother

Boca Raton — Boca Raton is one of Florida’s wealthiest cities, but even along its golden sands, people are still stuck in tax cross-currents.

“I found myself worrying about things that I feel like no kid really should,” Ana Duarte, 26, told CBS News. “…Like finances and housing and where I was going to lay my head that night.”

As children, Ana says she and her mother were homeless, struggling and constantly on the move.

“She always wanted a home,” said Anette Duarte, Ana’s mother. “She always asked me to come home… We went through some very difficult times.”

Anette worked long hours as a cleaner and did other odd jobs. But she always had the feeling that at least they had met – both against the world.

Until high school, when Ana began to lack patience and grace. She became bitter, beginning to blame her mother for all the years of struggle. Ana finally left the house.

“She would always get mad at me, she thought I didn’t care,” Anette said. “And I cared. But my hands were so tied I couldn’t do it.”

“For my mother, it was like torture,” Ana said. “But there was no other choice, because I didn’t want to continue living according to these patterns. I wanted to build my life.”

Which she did. Ana graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in social work and obtained a job with Food for the Poor, an international Christian humanitarian organization.

She also got her first real apartment, which she immediately told Anette about.

“I called her,” Ana said. “And I was like, ‘So I have an apartment. It’s two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Would you like to come live with me?'”

Ana even gave her mother the master bedroom.

“She doesn’t even say anything,” Ana said of Anette when she first saw the master bedroom. “She just looks around and says, ‘Woah, I have a bed.'”

Anette had never had her own room before.

“Yeah, it’s something that’s going to stay [with me] for the rest of my life,” Anette said. “And every time I look at her, I know.”

Mother’s Day celebrates the deepest love on Earth. But it’s important to remember that this day isn’t just about rewarding your mother for what she’s done. It’s about recognizing that she did everything she could.