Dear Mom (and mothers everywhere really),

Thank you for doing what you did for me when I was younger. I know working three jobs was hard, and I was too young to really understand what all of it meant, but you made sure that I always had that next thing that I wanted. There was always a new thing that I wanted. On top of that, you would cook dinner, clean and do laundry — and to this day, I'm not sure how you do it because now I come home to my apartment and barely want to do any of those things after class.

You not only helped me grow up, but you also made sure that I was always taken care of. Sure I got yelled at if I got bad grades, which to you may have been anything below an 85, but that may have also helped me and may be why I feel so successful now that I am more independent than I was even last year.

Being a parent seems so hard, but you always made it seem worth it, and now that I'm getting older I can't wait until the day I have a child to help like you did for me.

Senior year simultaneously the worst and best year of my life. You didn't know much about it because I used to keep a lot from you when I was a teenager, but you still were there for me even when you didn't know everything that was going on.

You helped me through that time and honestly you saved my life that year. After that, I never kept anything from you, and I told you every bad thing I had ever done. Sorry about sneaking out of the house so much to go meet a boy who wasn't good enough for me, but I'm better than that now.

Being here at college is hard because I miss you so much, and I don't have the time that I'd like to come visit home. I just want you to know that I always miss you and I appreciate everything you did and still do for me. We may get on each others nerves when I am home for a break, but I think that we are so similar that it's hard for us to live together. I may be lazier, and I may like video games a bit much, but I think we are still pretty much the same person.

I just wanted to say thank you for everything, and I literally would not be here at this point in my life without you. You kept me strong at times when I really just needed my mom, and I will never forget everything that you have done for me throughout my life.

I love you.