In my opinion, Moms are the greatest people in the world. No matter what I do, good or bad, amazing or disappointing, she’s always there for me. She cries with me when I’m sad, helps me get through anything from my to-do list to a situation I’m really struggling with, and is always my greatest cheerleader for when I do something great. And honestly, I don’t appreciate her enough. It’s impossible to thank her enough for everything she does for me, but right now, I want to try and get as close as I can:
Dear Mama,
I can’t live without you. You’re amazing, you know that? And sometimes it’s hard to believe all of the shit you put up with from me.
You’re the person I can always cry to, and when you start crying too and say that you hurt when I hurt, it means the world to me. When you see me in tears, you drop everything you were doing as if it was insignificant, even if I’m going to monopolize your time for several hours. Getting a call at 3 AM “just wanting to talk” doesn’t phase you, and when it eventually does turn into a crying fest, you always know exactly what to say to make it better.
You always cheered me on at tournaments all throughout middle school and high school and hugged me while I cried after hard losses. Any time I’ve had doubts, like when I wanted to make friends and decided last minute to go through sorority recruitment, you were there. I feel like I can tell you everything. Even when I do hide something for a while, when I do eventually tell you, you don’t hold anything against me and give me the greatest advice I could ask for.
You don’t judge me for my quirks, but embrace them and maybe even encourage them. I may have peculiar tastes when it comes to music or fashion or entertainment, but that doesn’t stop you from searching hard to find something I’ll like just to cheer me up or letting me drag you along on a quest to find that perfect something, even if it means going to every store we can think of in town, just to go back to the first one we went to (sorry about that).
Even the little things that you do and probably consider insignificant really touch me and make my day. You’re always willing to read my essays and point out my grammatical errors and silly slip-ups. You let me be a child again when we’re at the grocery store and let me sneak things into the cart while you pretend you didn’t notice. When you bring up sending me a care basket and I jokingly say I need an adult coloring book and chocolate, you indulge me and send me just that. And letting me bring home three bags of laundry and getting me an appointment with my hair stylist is all a scheme to get me to come home.
I notice all of these efforts you make, and honestly these don’t even scratch the surface of all the things you are willing to do for me and all of the amazing things that you have done for me. In reality, I quite literally cannot thank you enough. I don’t deserve you. I’ve yelled at you, cried because of something you’ve said to me, been angry with decisions you’ve made, and in reality, I should have been thanking you. You have never done anything that wasn’t in my best interest and I truly fear disappointing you, even though you’ve made it clear that you think that I can’t. And for that, I don’t think I can truly express how much I truly appreciate you. This letter certainly doesn’t quite cut it, but it’s a start.
So, Mama, I want to tell you one last time: I seriously can’t live without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You mean the world to me! And thank you for letting me be me. I love you so much, Mama.
Love,
The Most Undeserving Daughter Ever
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m still crying after writing the last 2 paragraphs of my letter. I miss your hugs and a month is certainly too long to wait to see you again, Mama. I miss you so much. I love you.
