Dear Single Moms of the World:

First off, as someone who has had a single mom for nearly their whole life, I want to say thank you for all that you do for your families. Even if they may not say it, they appreciate it as well. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to do everything by yourself. You have to be both parents and essentially make two incomes in this day and age just to survive.

I grew up with a mother who worked tireless hours at several jobs just to keep our three member family afloat. As hard as she worked, we were always poor, but we made due. We walked to the beach that was a few blocks away from our small house. We had a blast eating our potted meat sandwiches and sticking our feet in the sand. We also had laughs when the seagulls chased after us with our young, tiny hands gripping our bread for dear life.

We bought costumes and clothing at local thrift stores and played in the back yard with anything lying on the ground. We always either had a car that barely ran or hitched a ride to school with the babysitter or rode the bus. We made a giant spool, a table for our patio, and played in a sandbox that also served as a cat's litter box. We never had much, but we made memories nonetheless.

For my eighth birthday my mother made me a homemade chocolate cake and somehow managed to get me the VCR of the 1990s version of The Parent Trap, starring a then young and sober Lindsay Lohan. My sister and I watched that video until the tape came apart.

We used our old fireplace for warmth in the frigid winters and also blocked off the living room with bed sheets to keep the heat from escaping. We all slept huddled up next to each other piled on as many blankets as we had. As some point, we upgraded to a small electric heater when we ran out of firewood.

I had never watched cable until I was 11 years old because we couldn't afford it, and it was a luxury. We had however, acquired a good amount of movies that we watched over and over again. When I was about 12 years old, my mom worked three jobs; we barely saw her. She always made sure to check on us when she got home and then slept for a few hours. She saw us off to school every morning and made sure we got some sort of food in our stomachs to hold us over until lunchtime.

So, to all of the single mom's out there, I know that you're doing the best that you can, and I hope that you stay strong. You'll make it through and eventually everything will be okay, even if you don't believe it now. Stay brave, and keep at it. We love you.