This is a thank you to my loving parents that are happy to welcome me home every summer during my college career.

Being an adult is expensive, and I'm fortunate enough to have parents that are able to support me through the transition years from high school to college to adulthood.

No, my parents do not buy me everything I want, and no my parents do not give me unlimited amounts of money. However, I am fortunate to have parents that work very hard so that I will never have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.

Because of their hard work, I am able to live at home, free of charge with groceries provided, and work to save money for my future.

My parents worked hard raising me so I would know the value of a dollar and that hard work is the way to be successful.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have friends that wouldn't dream of going home for the summers because their parents would make them pay rent to live there or charge them for meals. While I understand the reasoning behind it, I feel blessed my parents allow me to live with them and still be a child in some sense.

I have had a job since I was 17, and continue to work as a full-time student in college. I make my own money and I have learned, and am still learning, how to budget and save properly. Currently, I work 40 hours a week an hour away from my house and saving as much as I possibly can.

The independence I have learned over the past 21 years of my life will carry me far and I owe it all to my parents. They taught me how to stand on my own two feet while providing for me and my younger sister.

So, thank you, mom and dad, for providing for me always, yet still instilling in me where the money comes from and teaching me the value of a dollar.