Dear Momma,

I am writing you, first and foremost, to apologize for the many shenanigans and mischief I so often found myself in as a kid. I know I was a little hellion, a brat, and I know I was far too often too hot to handle. For that, I'm sorry for making you waste copious amounts of energy trying to discipline and correct my many misdeeds.

Secondly, I am writing you to thank you for doing your very best in raising me. As I said, I know it wasn't always easy or pleasant, but I know that every minute of it was a labor of love for me. I want to thank you for being my rock, the person I can call at any point of any day or night and cry, or complain, or just plain ramble on and on about the goings-on whilst I am away in Boone. In any of those circumstances, I know that you are more than happy and willing to be there for me, because without you, I am honestly not sure what my life would be like. I'd be utterly and completely lost in this whole wide world we live in, and to me, that is probably the scariest thing I can ever contemplate (so I try not to do so).

Thirdly, I want to thank you for instilling in me the faith I have in God, for I know that through Him I can do all things because He strengthens me. Because of your lessons and persistence in teaching me the word of God, I firmly believe that He would not put me in any situation without knowing that I would come out of it as a more developed, poised young man. I know that as each generation of our family remains steadfast in the faith, God will continue to bless us with more and more as time goes on, and all of these are lessons I plan to pass down to my children someday.

I want to thank you for teaching me to be humble and kind, to try my very best to be independent and to take care of myself. Thank you for building the basis for my character and strong will, as well as for establishing my belief system and conscious. You raised me to always be a man of my word, and to never steal or lie, especially to those I love. I'll never forget your mantra: "Two things I hate most in the world are theives and liars." I'll be sure to use that quote on my kids someday, too.

Thank you for raising a gentleman, Momma. I couldn't imagine my life if I were a tool whom habitually treated others like scum on his shoes. Many friends have told me the reason why girls are not attracted to me is because I'm too nice to them, that I need to be somewhat of an ass to get their attention. I disagree. I believe the reason why they are not attracted to me is because they did not have the proper raising that told them to never accept that kind of mistreatment from a man. Hopefully I can find a woman who sees me for who I am and then I will show her what it is like to be treated right by a man who was raised by a Queen, for that lucky woman will get the ultimate royal treatment for life if I am to be so lucky as to find her.

Thank you for all your sweaty hours of back-breaking, joint-aching labor you invested in so that I could have 3 hots and a cot, a roof squarely over my head, a shirt on my back, and everything I ever needed, because sometimes in life we all must make sacrifices in order to get by. If that meant, as a kid, that I couldn't have the latest GameBoy product, well... Looking back, I am grateful that I wasn't spoiled with everything that I ever wanted or desired. It made me less materialistic than many of my peers.

I want you to know that you did not fail in raising me. Indeed, you did everything but fail. I want you to know that you raised an incredibly resilient, (mostly) responsible, accountable, and love-filled individual. You raised a good person. You raised an active citizen and dutiful American. You raised a man who strives to give everyone the benefit of the doubt (the BOTD, as we called it). You brought up an individual who sees the best in everyone, even if they do not see it in themselves.

In short, Momma, thank you for loving me unconditionally and irrevocably. I would not even begin to take the full credit for being where I am now, because I know that the lessons you instilled in me are what drove me to accomplish the goals that I have already achieved, and they are what will propel me to achieve so much more in life than anyone could have possibly imagined for me while I was a child.

I love you, Momma, and and I am forever and eternally grateful for your non-stop love and support. I can't say it enough: thank you, I love you.

P.S.- Thanks for teaching me to appreciate music of all types and genres, from all walks of life and time periods. Music has been an exceptional way in which I have dealt with many of the problems I have faced throughout my short twenty-three years of life.