“Growing up, she was our superwoman, she did everything.” Nets rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson recounts growing up with his mother, Rylanda, who often times, worked as many as three jobs to make ends meet. “She’s always had that mentality – ‘as long as you guys are good, it doesn’t matter about me.”
This weekend, she was the only thing that mattered to Rondae and his brother, Rahlir: For Rylanda’s birthday, her two sons lit candles on a cake, and surprised their mom with a new house in Chester, Penn. – their hometown. Turning the tables, it was Rylanda’s sons who turn to take care of her.
“There would be times where we wouldn’t see her for like three weeks, just because she would come home for two hours while we were asleep,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “That’s what I love about her. How much she sacrificed to make sure her family was good.”
Buying his mother a house has been a lifelong dream for Rondae, noting that the birthday surprise was an added bonus and that it all came together in the last four months.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
“It was ideal, but we knew you can’t time all that stuff with the finances and the bank and everything. On top if that, make sure the inspection and stuff go well, you never know. It was amazing,” he said, happy that things worked out.
Rondae’s sister drove their mother to the house, where friends and family were there to welcome Rylanda to her new home.
“People that we are really close to and that she is really close to, they were there to support and to show their love on her birthday for a special moment — the best birthday ever,” he said. “It was great to have that love and support.”
In the video above, an anticipatory pair of brothers prepares a cake and gathers loved ones around the door to surprise an unsuspecting Rylanda as she walks up to a house she does not yet know is home. And although it must have been tough, they kept it a surprise all along the way – not without the Nets rookie sending her off the trail a few times.
“She didn’t have any idea, but she told me ‘hey, an apartment would be nice.’ And I was like, ‘oh yeah, I have someone looking at apartments,” Rondae said.
One thing is for certain, all the love and sacrifice Rylanda made for her family did not go unnoticed and her kind heart rubbed off on her two sons. “It’s in us and it’s in our blood,” Rondae said about wanting to do something special.
“It’s an ease of the heart,” he continued. “You know when you finally reach that goal that you set for a long time. You’re like, ‘wow, I finally did it.’ It’s like a release, something you can take off your mental plate that was weighing on you a little bit. It was exciting, more than anything.”
And with such a great response from friends, family and Nets fans everywhere, there’s only one last question to ask – how will these guys top next year’s present? Rondae laughs, “it will be another big surprise for sure.”
