I love you.

Thank you.

I’m sorry.

Those three statements seem so second nature for most mother-daughter duo’s but mean so much more to us. Those words were scarce for so many years. For years we lived under one roof but barely spoke. For years I couldn’t understand you and you couldn’t understand me. For years I didn’t try to understand. For years both of us lived in the same home but in two entirely different worlds.

It didn’t start off that way. I have such beautiful memories of curling up next to you after a Saturday night shower as you braided my hair so I could wake up with those natural curls for church. I remember Saturday evening cuddles and curling up behind your knees. I remember being a little girl who thought her mother seemed more like an angel than a woman.

Somewhere along the way we lost that innocence. Around the age of 13 life started to take the same toll on me that it had taken on you for so many years. When life became difficult for both of us, we realized that we were too much alike. Instead of turning toward each other, we pulled apart. It was easier to hide behind our defenses than to be honest about the pain we both felt. We started to bicker. That bickering turned into yelling. The yelling eventually turned into silence. That silence lasted for the rest of my childhood.

So much happened in those silent years. I had my heart broken, I grew up, I suffered from depression before I knew what that word meant, I met Jesus, I missed you. I forgave you for being emotionally distant from me because I realized I had been doing the exact same thing to you. I started to realize that not everything was your fault-- in fact much of it was my own. I started to see that you and I were so very similar. I started to pray that God would give us a relationship like we had never had before.

One day, years later, something changed in both of our hearts. You came to me as an adult to an adult and said the things I had been wanting to say to you for so long.

I love you.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Just like that, the silence was broken.

Since that day I have gotten to know the beautiful woman you are. You are my hero, my rock, my best friend and the person I can call when my heart is broken or when I don’t know how to cook spaghetti. Yes, I am adult now but in some ways I feel like a little girl when I get to see you and hug you and say I love you every five minutes. I am so grateful for the relationship we have. I wouldn’t trade this friendship for anything else in the world. What we have now isn’t special in spite of where we came from-- it is special because of where we came from.

You are such a beautiful woman. It took me too long to see that. I’m sorry.

You are now the best friend I have. Thank you.

There is one thing about us that has always been there and always will be. It’s the thing that kept us together in spite of our mistakes. Love. Love won in our lives. Love will always win in our life.

I love you.

Here is to many years full of love and long hugs.

Here is to the laughter that has long replaced the silence.