Growing up is one of the scariest things that you’re faced with at some point in your life. Growing up means leaving home and having to do everything on your own now. Going away to college is the eye opener for most my age but for me, it’s merely the realization that I’m getting older and someday I will have to do everything on my own. You get so used to mom or dad picking you up every day after school, making your lunch every morning, taking you to practices and games. For me, it’s my mom. My mom is a single mother raising two teenagers. It’s hard growing up without a father, but it’s easy when you have a fantastic mother who plays both roles. They always say “not all heroes wear a cape” and now I understand why.
This is for all the single mothers out there forced to play both roles every day. We are grateful, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without you. Thank you.
Thank you for always putting on a brave face even when it seems like the walls are caving in around you.
Thank you for all the hard work you do in order to put clean clothes on our backs and food in our stomachs every day.
Thank you for getting up at the crack of dawn every morning to make our lunches for school, make sure there was breakfast on the table, and get us ready to send us on our way. Thank you for helping us with our homework, thank you for getting us to practices and games, and thank you for making sure there’s dinner to come home to every night.
Thank you for not just being a mother, but a best friend. And a chauffeur. And a personal chef. And a teacher. And a freakin’ superhero.
Thank you for showing us you don’t need a man to do it all and make you happy. You just need a cup of coffee and positive energy.
And to my own single mother, thank you. From that awkward middle school stage, to walking the stage at graduation, to entering college, thank you for showing me immeasurable love and support. Your constant reassurance in everything I do is what gets me through those tough times. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank God for the sacrifices you made for my brother and I. You’ve been through a lot, a lot more than most. There’s been so many ups and downs it’s hard to remember them all sometimes. You’ve proven your strength time and time again and now I know where I get all my strength from. It has never been about moving from home to home or what was going to be under the Christmas tree. Having you as a mother has been the greatest gift I could ever ask for. Thank you.
“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my mommy you’ll be.”
