Dear Mom,

First of all I love you. I love you more than anything in the whole world and I hope you know that you will always be someone that I look up to with respect and amazement for how wise you are. I know that when I was growing up you and I had our fights and arguments, and I know that it got a lot better senior year.

Maybe it's a natural thing for mothers and daughters to have their little arguments, but personally I am so glad that now that I’m away at college you and I have become closer than ever.

There are days where I don’t get to hear your voice and that is the hardest thing, but then there are days where you and I will talk on the phone for an hour about life and what I’m doing and about how much you love your new job and how great you’re doing with physical therapy. I didn’t know what it would feel like to become so much closer to you, but let me tell you it is a wonderful feeling.

I’ve learned so much from you, and I do not give you nearly enough credit for that. Thank you for teaching me how to respect myself and how to respect others as well as the environment around me.

Maybe I wasn’t the cleanest person at home, but now that I’m at school I have become so organized and I clean every week. I owe that to you. You taught me that no matter what I will always be okay, I will always be able to find my way and I will always be able to adapt to any situation because I am strong.

I am not nearly as strong as you are, but I hope to be one day. Maybe you don’t know this, but every day I strive to be as great as you are.

You are the most kind-hearted person and you put everything you have into everything that you do and that is the most incredible way to live. You have been through so much and you have done so many things throughout your life and I can only hope that I will be half as great as you are.

I love the days when I get a letter or text or call you, it makes it seem like you’re right here with me. Hearing about your day and being able to tell you about mine and hearing how proud you are of me is such a good feeling. I feel so confident and wonderful because of you and how you and Dad raised me. The two of you shaped me into who I am today and I am so thankful for that.

Mom, I hope you know that I think about you all the time. Every decision I make, from the simplest ‘do I say hi’ to ‘what type of fashion statement do I make today’ to the most complex ‘is this okay’, I always think of what you would tell me. I think of all the advice you’ve given me, even the advice I know you thought I wasn’t listening to, I remember all of it and I took it all to heart even though maybe I didn’t always seem like I was listening.

So thank you for everything. Thank you for all that you do for me and thank you for giving me life and thank you for reminding me every day how great life is. You mean so much to me, and I am so glad that our bond has become so much stronger since I’ve gone off to college.

From the bottom of my heart, I love you so much, Mom.

Love always,

Your grateful daughter.