Mom and Dad:

First, I want to say Happy Anniversary. You’ve made it another year and I know you’ll be together for many years to come.

Second, I want to thank you. I may not know much about relationships, but I do know a good one when I see it. Your relationship with each other is one that I look up to. and one day I hope to have a relationship even half as amazing as the one you two share.

I’ve seen you go through ups and downs. I’ve seen you fight and I’ve seen you say sorry. You’ve taught me that any relationship takes work and marriage is no exception. I know that at times, I probably made it more difficult than it needed to be, but thank you for fighting through all the problems despite it all because I’m lucky to call you my parents.

Dad, thank you for teaching me what to expect from the guy I end up with. You treat Mom with such respect and love and you’ve made me realize that I deserve the same.

Mom, thank you for teaching me how to have self-respect and to have high expectations of any guy I date.

Thank you both for being more of a parent than a friend when I needed you to be because let’s face it: I have no idea what’s best for me or even what I’m doing most of the time.

Thank you for teaching me to be independent. You’ve taught me how to take care of myself and that is one of the greatest lessons I’ve ever learned.

Thank you for teaching me to not give up when things get tough. You taught me to fight for the things I want.

Thank you for teaching me that hard work is really the only way to achieve anything. I can’t just sit around and hope for everything to work itself out; things that are worth getting take time and effort.

Thank you for being my voices of reason. Now that I’m living on my own, you are less my parents and more my friends. I know that I can come to you for advice when I need it and you’ll never steer me in the wrong direction.

Thank you for teasing me when I was younger. I may have whined and cried about it at the time, but I’m grateful for it now. You gave me a thick skin so the things that other people say really don’t get to me as much as they would have had you not given me a hard time growing up.

Thank you for being amazing parents. You both have taught me so much - both individually and together. You’ve taught me that a relationship doesn’t have to be perfect to be good.

One of you by yourself probably wouldn’t have done as good a job with helping shape me into who I am today (sorry, but we all know it’s true.) You work better as a team, and I’m so blessed to be able to call your team Mom and Dad.

Happy anniversary. I know this is only one of many to come. I love you both.