There is no better friend than your own mother.

I believe all moms have super powers. How does my mom always know when I am down? Why does she always know when something is up? She senses every small detail, and I believe that makes her my best friend.

Without my mother, I would not be the woman that I am today. Although there a million articles out there about wonderful mothers, I believe that my mother deserves her own.

So, this one is for you, Mom.

Some people say that your mother cannot be your best friend, but I have to disagree. A best friend is someone who is consistently there for you through the ups and most importantly … the downs. As I have mentioned in previous articles, I have struggled with anxiety. Throughout all my hard times of accepting my anxiety and learning how to deal, my mother stuck by my side. It broke my heart knowing that my mother blamed herself for the way that I was feeling when in reality, there was no reason why I felt the way I did … I just did.

My mother always taught me to never change anything about myself on my own, but being the rebel that I am, I of course had to box dye my hair. When it proceeded to turn orange, I quickly ran to a hair salon and my only option was to become a true, white, blonde. Luckily, I was away at school, so I hid the secret from her knowing that I had broken the one rule that she always made sure to drill into my head.

The secret could not be kept forever, though.

The day that she found out was the day that I felt like my world was ending; that is how close we are. We never fight. As we proceeded to get into an argument, I ended the phone call with, “I am not getting on the flight home for spring break”, as I sobbed in the hallway. As someone who views her mother has her best friend, I felt lost. The person who was always there for me, I felt as though I had lost, even though it really was not that big of a deal; I was just being dramatic per usual. Moments later, my mother called me back on the phone and we proceeded to laugh about the entire thing.

That is what best friends do; they make up because they know that no issue is too big to ruin a friendship.

I thank my mother for being there through the heartaches and heartbreaks. She has taught me that it is perfectly OK to cry over boys and other small, irrelevant things. She always repeats the same simple line, “It is OK to let it out. Do not bottle it up.” Although that may seem like common sense as we seem to always be told that, many people forget how normal it is to cry. My mother has told me to face my emotions with full force and not hold back on how I am feeling.

Along with the heartbreaks, she has also told me to stand up for myself even for the simplest things. I once asked for a plain turkey sandwich and received a sandwich with everything but turkey and was too scared to say anything, but she pushed me out of my comfort zone to make sure that I got what I wanted.

The simple moment taught me to be brave no matter what the situation and never be afraid to speak up.

Never take for granted the simple lessons that your mom may teach you. Each day I recognize my mother as my best friend more and more. She teaches me to not only be a better person overall, but also to be a better best friend to each and every one of my friends. There is not a day that goes by that I am not reminding myself of all the lessons you have taught me and how I plan on carrying them on to my own children someday.

I thank you for being not only my mother, but also a best friend.