Dear Mom and Dad,

There are not enough words for me to express my gratitude to you. Sometimes I feel guilty for being blessed with the world’s greatest parents. You two have done everything for me from braiding my hair to helping me pay for college. I can’t help but have this overwhelming feeling that I just don’t deserve you two.

You’ve made sacrifice after sacrifice for our family, and that’s a kind of love that not everyone gets a chance to experience. I wonder every day what made me so lucky. Not everyone is born with two people who automatically love them for the rest of their life, but I sure was. For that, I’m forever grateful.

From the time I could talk, you were always forcing manners into my mouth like "Yes, please" and "No, thank you." You made me shake hands with everyone I met. You taught me how to apologize when apologies were due. I even had to write a thank you note for every gift I ever received.

Of course, as a kid, I would roll my eyes, moan, groan, and contest your attempts at making me into a polite little girl. I did not realize it then, but these were lessons that I’d carry with me every single day for the rest of my life. It’s perplexing to me how many people don’t place importance on teaching their children manners.

Thank you for teaching me how to treat others with respect, even when it wasn’t easy, because it often was not. You taught me that I can’t control the way people treat me, but I can control the way I react to them. Even though I occasionally let the actions and words of others get to me, I know I have a rock-solid support system always ready to back me up.

Sometimes we fought, and sometimes I questioned your parenting. Looking back now, I see that every argument we had, every battle we fought together, and every mess you helped me clean up, shaped me into the person I am today. I often chose to learn my life lessons the hard way, but your love and support for me never wavered, and you stood by me through every ugly mistake I ever made, and continue to make. It would have been so easy for you to say "I told you so!" and leave me hanging there to figure it out for myself.

There’s nothing quite as comforting as knowing you’ll always have two people in your corner who love you unconditionally. I think the only way I'll ever be able to compensate for how good I've had it is to raise my own kids one day like you raised me. I'll be lucky if I'm even half as good of a parent as the both of you. Mom and Dad, you’re my best friends. I will shamelessly hold our relationship above all others in my life because there’s no bond quite like ours. I love you forever.

— Zoë