Growing up I always took for granted the money, time and support my parents so easily gave me. However now as I get older I'm starting to realize just how much they really did sacrifice and how guilty I feel for it. Remembering back all these years I can't even begin to count on one hand the hours and money my parents provided for me and without them doing so all the things I would have missed out on.

Now as I sit here pondering what I should get my mother on Mother's' Day I find myself falling short of options that would suffice for everything she's done for me just this year, let alone the past twenty. The fact is how can I say thank you enough for all the times you dropped whatever you were doing to take me somewhere, that extra twenty dollars I just needed to borrow before payday but never returned or when you had an incredibly long work week but you still allowed my friends to come over and run around the house screaming until you couldn't take it anymore.

When it comes to being able to repay my parents for all they have done, I never know quite what to do. As I add up all the money I owe them, I wonder how on earth I will ever pay them back and how they ever had that much money to give me in the first place. However now that I am older I realize just how thankful I am for the sacrifices they made because the extra gas money they gave me without even a second thought definitely came at a price.

While I was being a kid they were working to help me do the things I wanted to do and to provide what I needed like a house to call home and yet after work each night I always wanted them to play games with me or go on a bike ride not thinking how tired they probably were.

Thinking about it now in my twenty year old head about what gift to give my mom for Mother's Day I realize it's not always about the gifts but about the blessings that come with loving your family no matter what. I may not be capable of purchasing a fancy diamond ring or the fishing boat dad has always wanted but what I can give right now is a life they would be proud of and memories that are everlasting. As we gift our parents, remember to say that extra thank you even if it's for something small. Gift in actions and words rather than material things because your parents will love you regardless.

Someday I hope to repay them and give them the simplistic life in which they made sure I had when I was a kid. My wish is that my parents will never have to worry about being short on a bill or how they will have enough food in the house to last them throughout the next week. I want to be able to give them the house of their dreams and provide them with support when they get old and can't do things for themselves. I also hope that everyday they look back on all the times they shed an extra tear or went the extra mile and are thankful they raised me to be strong and independent just like they taught me to be.

I wish for them a carefree life empty of worries and tragedies because as I was young they sheltered me from all the bad in the world just to help me rise up strong again. These are things to be thankful for and as I continue on and often still need my parents help I can look back and say that all those things helped build me and that's a price worth paying.