Mom and Dad,

I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me in my almost 20 years on this Earth. First, I want to thank you for providing me with a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food on my plate. I know I wasn’t the best eater and the way I wanted to dress seemed really bizarre when I was young. I also want to thank you for being my ultimate support system and cornerstone. You stood by me in everything I did and everything I dreamed of doing, even though most of my dreams seemed absolutely absurd. You gave me the greatest life lessons and the best advice, which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. You’ve given me the basics in life tips: treat others how you want to be treated, always look presentable, etc. If there’s one thing I could thank you most for, however, I want to thank you for teaching me to work for what I wanted.

You gave me everything that every young adult in this world needs to survive and I can’t thank you enough for that. But the best thing you taught me was that if there was something I truly wanted in this life, I had to work for it. There’s nothing in this world that comes for free. Sure, it would have been nice to have everything I wanted handed to me while I was growing up like some of my friends did. If you did that, would I be the same person that I am today? Probably not.

Since I had to work for what I wanted, I developed a certain drive and love for working a real job. I got a sense of pride and satisfaction after reaching a goal or buying something I wanted because I worked for it. Granted, there were nights I would walk through my front door at one, sometimes two in the morning after a long day of work feeling more dead than alive. You waited for me to come home and would remind me of how proud you were of me for working so hard.

You didn't only teach me to work for my money, you taught me to work for my future. Laziness was not an option in high school and like everyone else, I needed to work for my grades. It wasn’t enough to just show up to school day in and day out, and put no work in. I needed to put in long hours to study for exams and quizzes. I’ll never forget the voice in the back of my head telling me “study, be somebody,” which motivated me to study the extra hour, or write the last paragraph. After those four years, the work paid off when I was accepted to an amazing school that was nothing less than perfect for me.

I want to say that you two have been (and still are) the best parents out there. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think of how much you’ve done for me and how truly grateful I am to be blessed with parents like you. I can only hope that I be as good of a parent to my own children as you are to me. Finally, thank you for giving me what I needed, not what I wanted.

Sincerely,

Your Child