From the time that I was a little girl my mother has always been there, no matter what. When I was heading to my very first day of kindergarten there she was, right by my side the whole way to class. She got up before me every morning to fix me breakfast and make my lunch for school. She would even hide little notes of encouragement in my lunches sometimes for me to find. She has stayed up numerous nights with me struggling to get through piles of homework and did it with a smile, no matter how tired or stressed out she was. Even after having more children she still managed to never miss a beat. Now, as I am about to turn 21 and will be a senior in college next year, my mother is still there just as she was on that first day of kindergarten with encouragement in her voice and pride in her eyes. What I have learned as I have grown older is that I still need her, and I am never going to stop needing her. She is my familiar rock that I know I can always cling to in hard times. She is the one person that I know, without a doubt, I can always count on. What I have also realized though is that throughout all of the hard work and sacrifices she has made to make my life easier, I have never really taken the time to say 'thank you', so that is what I'm going to do now.

Dear Momma,

Thank you for shaping me into the person I am today. Thank you for never giving up on me and for always pushing me to be better. Thank you for teaching me how to be independent and make my own happiness. I have learned what kindness is and that giving can be better than receiving and that is because of you, mom. Thank you for being there for all of the big moments in my life thus far. Thank you for teaching me patience and resilience and for showing me how to care for others. Thank you for being my support system and my biggest fan. Thank you for listening to me and for never judging me. Thank you for being my shoulder to cry on and for being patient with me when it's hard for me to express my feelings. Thank you for not killing me when I changed my major four times, I promise I won't change it again. Thank you for laughing at my jokes even when they're not funny, which is most of the time. Thank you for tolerating me when I am being a brat. Thank you for always being my ray of sunshine on days when I feel like life couldn't get any worse. Thank you for always striving to give us the world. Thank you for all the good times we have had and continue to have but also, thank you for the rough times, for caring enough to be hard on me sometimes. Thank you for always putting our needs before your own and for being such an amazing role model. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and for being my best friend, but most of all thank you for being my mom. You are my hero and I love you.

Sincerely, Your Biggest Fan.