Dad,

Thank you for being my number #1 fan and my biggest cheerleader. You deserve to know I am incredibly lucky to have you. I want you to know that you are the reason I am the bubbly, outgoing girl I am, so thank you for making me, well, me.

Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made to make sure I was always able to participate in school functions, hang out with friends and go shopping when I wanted to craft. I will never understand how you get up so early and work so late, but you have continued to work as hard as you could to give me the life I have wanted and for that I can never thank you enough.

Thank you for giving me every opportunity that comes my way; I never thought I would be the person to study abroad, but you made that possible for me. I know you believe I spent my days eating pizza and getting lost in what seemed to be a whole new world, but I promise I learned so much while I was over in Italy. I have found a love for writing, traveling, reading and learning about other cultures that I wouldn’t have known about without your help.

Thank you for teaching me that you need to stand up for what you believe in and you need to work hard for the things you want in life. You have instilled values in me that are making me the young woman I am today. I know whenever I apply for a job or an internship, I can get it because you taught me I can do anything I put my mind to. You have taught me so many valuable lessons that without you I wouldn’t have known.

Thank you for setting the bar high for any man that chooses to become a part of my life. You have watched me go through my first heartbreak and were the shoulder I needed to lean on when it seemed too tough. Thank you for helping me get my laugh back when I let someone else dictate my own happiness. You have shown me that I do not need someone in my life to determine how happy I am or how my future will go. I am an independent young woman and I make my own fairytales.

But most of all...

Thank you for being the goofy, fun-loving dad you are. I don’t know anyone else who will watch Disney movies with us, will play Pretty Pretty Princess because his daughter wanted or will come home after work and go directly into the living room to chase me around. So thank you, for everything you do big or small.

I love you,

Forever your little girl