Hi Mom!

First and foremost, I want you to know that I love you. No, nothing is wrong. Yes, I am perfectly fine. I was just feeling reflective today and I wanted to write to you.

Growing up, I don’t think I really understood you and I resisted your teachings. I was different. I was weird. I considered myself to be the black sheep of the family, so to speak. But even from a very early age, you taught me something very important: to always be myself. You taught me to just not give a single f*** about what other people thought and I took that advice to the head. While everyone around me listened to rap and R&B, I actively resisted the status quo and listened to the likes of Cher, Fall Out Boy, and Beethoven. I didn’t ask to play football or basketball. No, no; I wanted to take Karate classes (I did eventually do more traditional sports but that’s a different story). I picked the viola because I wanted to be different. You supported me through all of these differences.

But still, for years, we bumped heads. For some reason I could not get my act together and I realize now that I must’ve stressed you out beyond imagination but you still dealt with it. I don’t ever remember a time where you wrote me off. You always worked at making sure that I was a better person. Obviously there were things that I hid from you; I never wanted to move to Las Vegas. I hated it there for a long time. But when it was time to move back to Indianapolis, I didn’t want to leave either. And I harbored all of that resentment.

Then something strange happened; there was a definite shift in our relationship. All of a sudden, we were communicating closer to something like equals rather than in a traditional mother-son fashion. Over the last five years, I made an active effort to see where you were coming from and you took a more than active effort to understand me better, to listen to what I had to say.

But the biggest act of love has been over the last few months. I always knew you supported me but I had no idea how much of a ride or die you truly were for me. You gave me tough love about the holes I dug myself in but you always grabbed your own shovel to help dig me out. I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to get through this semester without you. You are an amazing woman and I aspire to be as great as you one day. Thank you for teaching me some valuable, lifelong lessons. Thank you for always supporting me and never leaving me to completely fend for myself. Thank you for being a wonderful and irreplaceable mother to me.

Love your son,

Kris