Happy birthday, Mommy! Today you are one year older, but I don’t think you’ve truly aged in the last decade. You are still as beautiful as you were the day we met, on my birthday 22 years ago. What is your secret? What kind of Christie Brinkley witch doctor vitamins are you taking?

When I look in the mirror, I see little bits of you, similarities in our features: our wavy hair, apple cheeks, big brown “cow eyes,” tiny teeth. My smile is your smile.

I don’t have a favorite memory of you because there are too many great ones to pick out a single, epitomic representation of the greatness of our relationship. If I had a favorite, it probably wouldn’t be appropriate to share here, for you have a wildly inappropriate sense of humor (think: farts). We have a lot of fun together, especially now that I’m older and we can talk candidly about adult-things. But you also gave me a very joyful childhood, for which I am eternally grateful.

A connection between my childhood and my young adulthood: The first DVD we ever bought, when DVDs first became a thing, was Beauty and the Beast, after it came out of the Disney Vault. This weekend, we saw the new Beauty and the Beast, bonding over our love for Emma Watson and giggling like schoolgirls at how freaking hot the prince is. Beauty and the Beast is immutably our thing.

We have many “things”: Having family movie nights, courtesy of RedBox Blu-Ray rentals; inventing “errands” to run as an excuse to go to the dollar section at Target; relishing in life’s pure, simple joys, like clean sheets, warm cookies, and syrupy fountain drinks; trying to figure out whodunit on Law & Order, which I pretend to not like but you know I secretly love; making meatless spaghetti sauce, a.k.a. the best kind of spaghetti sauce. These are just some of our things, and I love them.

Our family is small—just you, me, Dad, and our rather silly cats—but it is the best family a daughter could ask for. God’s greatest blessing in my life has been having you and Dad as my parents.

You are undoubtedly the strongest, most resilient, most self-assured woman I know. With Dad, you have built an incredible home for us and given me an unshakeable sense of security, acceptance, and love. You have taught me not only how to be a brave young woman and but a kind and generous person, as you are. You have prepared me to be a real person in the great big world, and I hope I make you proud.

I wish you the happiest of birthdays. May you always be treated like the queen that you are, especially today.