When I look back on my childhood, one part of every memory remains clear, despite how many years may pass. That part is my mother’s presence in every one. Whether she was the focal point of a early childhood memory, such as Christmas morning when I was six, or in the background, silently cheering me on when I achieved my goals or experienced a moment I would remember for a lifetime, there was never a time that my mom wasn’t nearby either spiritually or physically supporting me and being there for me. Despite her significance in every single aspect of my life thus far, she gets no where near the credit she deserves for raising a child who is, well, as difficult as me. To my mom, my rock, my best friend and my hero, this article will come nowhere close to demonstrating my appreciation for the roles you played in my life and continue to, but it’s the only gesture I can possibly perform that will even begin to express my gratitude for everything you have done for me.

To my mom,

As your first born child, there came a day whe you came home from the hospital with a brand new, seemingly fragile, most likely screaming, tiny human that you were responsible for for the next 18 years. I imagine at this point you were clueless, scared and exhausted. But you pulled through. Flash forward a few years and suddenly your fragile, tiny human was still screaming, (now for more various and ridiculous reasons), but instead of being a precious infant, she was a temperamental toddler that collapsed on the floor kicking and screaming multiple times daily because something that was most likely out of your control did not go her way. This lasted a few too many years past the terrible twos, and you endured trips to the grocery store, the mall, Toys R Us and even the laundry mat with a 6 year old that was clearly past the age where temper tantrums were appropriate. The years continued to pass and even as the temper tantrums stopped, different struggles replaced them. There was the attitude of a hormonal 13 year old that insisted on wearing blue eyeshadow to her eyebrows and demanded she got to hang out with friends on school nights. There was the broken hearted 16 year old you consoled on May night when she crumbled into sobs in your arms because that boy she declared as “the one”, loved someone else. There was the nights you stayed up late as a study partner for an upcoming AP test, and provided reassurance through emotional stress breakdowns. There was high school rodeos where you spent your Friday nights as a barrel racer’s biggest fan, and there was summer nights you waited up to the wee hours for your 17 year old to walk through the back door. You celebrated multiple college acceptance letters, and struggled to accept that your baby was leaving the nest sooner than later. You endured multiple nasty glares, a few “I hate you”s, multiple screaming matches and cried plenty of tears. You learned AP Physics well enough to most likely pass the AP exam yourself, and you picked out fake friends as if they had the title painted on their foreheads. You served as a cheerleader, a best friend, a role model, an arch enemy, an authoritative figure and a support system all while fulfilling the title of mom, and nobody could have done it better.

Somewhere along the way, your precious infant, your temperamental toddler (plus a few years), your self centered middle schooler and highly emotional teenager grew up, and became a goal oriented, compassionate young adult, and that transformation wouldn’t have been possible without your constant patience and guidance. I owe you entirely for raising me to be the person I am today. You taught me self respect, as well as to respect others. You taught me that it is okay to not fit into some basic mold, because the best way to be is the best unique version of yourself. You taught me my self worth, and to not lower my standards for anybody. You taught me to stay true to myself, to be leader and not follower, and to handle every situation with maturity and serenity. You taught me to be stubborn at times, and to be open minded at other times, and how to tell when each is acceptable. You taught me that success doesn’t come in a dollar amount, but instead comes in how happy you are at the end of each day. You taught me to smile through rough times and to always remain optimistic even in tough situations, because a negative attitude only makes a negative situation worse. You taught me the only way to get what you want in life is to work hard and work honestly, because nobody is entitled to anything. You taught me to be strong willed and independent, and to focus on my goals and dreams, while teaching me to be compassionate, and that the best contribution you can ever make to this world is to be kind, which is how you lived your life. Thank you for being such a positive role model to me that you caused me to aspire to live with the same grace that you do. I have never met a more giving person, and you leave a lasting impact on everyone you meet. You have the most beautiful and gentle soul, and to call that soul my mother and to have grown up watching her selfless actions and having her morals instilled in me is truly the biggest blessing God could have given me.

I know raising a child like me was nowhere close to easy. After all, you dealt with temper tantrums from a 7 year old, and then an emotional basket case teenager with whom everything was a crisis, and now finally, a completely goal oriented but highly stressed out young adult with dreams bigger than the sky. However, despite how difficult I was and often continue to be, nobody in the world could have handled me better. Thank you for being patient with me, following through with punishments, for being my most trusted friend, and most of all, for knowing when to do each of those things. I’m so glad you never took any of the “I hate you”s to heart, because even when I thought I meant it, I never did. I’ve heard so many times from so many people that a parent should never be their child’s friend, but I’m so glad you never followed that memo, because I truly believe that is why our relationship is so strong and why became the person I did. Thank you for trusting me to always make the right decision and for allowing me to trust you enough to be truthful with you when I didn’t. It truly is the reason I grew up to possess honest and level headed morals that didn’t just help me stay out of trouble but helped me become the mature person I’m proud to be.

You have gotten nowhere near the recognition you deserve throughout the years, and this article doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface of how appreciative I am for everything you have done for me. In addition to enduring all the challenges and well, basically the living hell I put you through throughout the years that I described in this article, you also played so many other behind the scenes roles in my life that nobody gave you credit for but you 100% deserve to be thanked for. I wouldn’t have walked across the stage at my high school graduation with a 4.7, gotten accepted into every college applied to, had the courage to chase my dreams or the determination to be the best asset to the world I could without your tireless effort to raise me right. Every accomplishment I have achieved and every single one that I will achieve in future years relates back to each moral you instilled me, and for that you deserve all the credit and recognition in the world. As I take on the next chapter of my life- college, then a career, and then hopefully family of my own- I can only hope to live my life with the same grace you do, work as honestly and as hard as you do, and instill the same values and be the positive role model you were and continue to be, for my own future children. You set the standard high for me, and if I can become half the person and mother that you were, then I know I will have succeeded. Most of all, I hope I make you proud, because there has never been a time I wasn’t proud to call you my mom.

Love always and thank you for everything,

Your daughter