Mom,

You are so much more to me than just my mom. You are my best friend, my confidant, my role model, my hero, my partner in crime, my other half. We have an unbreakable bond that I have never been able to match with anyone else. We have the same sense of humor, the same morals, and we get the same kick out of teasing the rest of the family.

I love that when we are together we drive dad insane, we laugh over things that we both thought at the same time, we joke around and tease the other kids. I love it. I love that we think the same things, ask the same questions and find the same little flaws in the world around us. Leaving for school was hard for me, I was afraid that I would not make friends, that I would be too anxious to leave my room, that I would do terrible in my classes and that I would disappoint you. I did not want to leave you. I couldn’t leave my best friend at home even though I would only be 40 minutes away, but 40 minutes is 40 minutes and not the 40 seconds it takes to go from your room to mine. I was worried about you just as much as you were worried about me. It hurt to think about the fact that I wouldn’t be able to walk down the hall to ask you a question, or tell you about something that happened at school or work, to ask for your advice on a boy or homework. The promise of coming home now and then kept me sane in the beginning when my roommate was driving me nuts or when I just simply missed you and home.

A lot of people do not have as close of a relationship as we do. I hear girls at school talking about how they do not talk to their mothers about boys, school, work, their problems, what they are stressed about, anything. Some even go as far as saying that they hate their mothers, and wish that they never had to talk to them or see them again. I am so grateful to have someone like you that I can talk to and trust with everything, if I didn’t I’m sure I would explode. I cannot even imagine never seeing or talking to you again, I would surely lose my mind. You are my rock, without you I would float away. You keep me grounded and level-headed, you call me on my shit and make me want to be a better person. A person that would make you proud.

You have been such a strong, dominate and important figure in my life, teaching me the ways of the world, how to be a kind, caring and generous woman. You have shown me how to be strong, how to take care of myself and others, how to stand up for what I believe in and take no shit from anyone. I hope that one day I can be half the woman that you are.