Oftentimes, the biggest heroes in our lives are the ones that slip by unseen for far too long. They’re the people who spend every waking moment doing for others, even when they receive nothing in return, or what they do receive is a slap in the face. I’ve never understood the ways of the world quite enough to know why you aren’t a retired millionaire, lying back on a private island and spending every day with the woman of your dreams, but I do know that I have quite a few things to thank you for.

Thank you for teaching me to believe in myself.

If I told you tomorrow that I wanted to be the next President of the United States, you’d say, “Go for it, baby!” even though the starting pistol has already gone off. Thank you for teaching me that I can be anyone, do anything, and go anywhere, as long as I set my mind to it.

Thank you for coming to eat dinner with me just because I’ve had a bad day.

No matter what, I know you’d drive for hours just to see me for a minute. For the countless times I’ve called you in tears and you’ve coming running to my side, I can never thank you enough.

Thank you for being my biggest supporter.

Whether it’s flying back home and driving straight from the airport, or travelling after a full day of work, thank you for always showing up to make sure I have a familiar face in the crowd and a “We love you!” shouted from the stands.

Thank you for loving me in a way that teaches me both how to love and how I want to be loved.

From my first breath, thank you for showing me the way a woman who is loved should be looked at. You make me long to be seen in the same way.

Thank you for reminding me that my life could always be worse.

From the “I’m sure someone in Africa would love those peas” joke at the dinner table, to bringing me back down to Earth after a rant about the struggles of my college life, thank you for keeping me humble.

Thank you for teaching me my states and capitals two years before the rest of my class.

You’ve kept me ahead of the curve since I was learning to walk, and there's no telling where I would be today without your infinite wisdom. From multiplication tables to the ways of the world, thank you for being my first and best teacher.

Thank you for always being just a phone call away.

In the middle of the night, during a conference call, or interrupting a meal, thank you for always picking up your phone for me.

Thank you for teaching me to be grammatically correct.

Even though you received a lot of eye rolls growing up, I can’t thank you enough for the grammatical values you instilled upon me, even as a child growing up in the South. You might as well be writing this article, because you’ve shaped how I communicate as a writer and as a person.

Thank you for teaching everyone to be the exactly the same as you are.

Nothing is better than having a family who lifts you up in lieu of tearing you down. The support system I’ve grown up with is all a girl can ask for. Thank you for promoting these values in our family.

Thank you for teaching me that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade and give it to someone who needs it more.

Never have I met someone as selfless as you are. You put the saying “He’d give you the shirt off of his back,” to shame. Thank you for making me strive to be a better person, and for showing me how to do that through constant demonstration.

Thank you for always being a best friend and a voice of reason.

Growing up, your best friend is the girl who loves the same lipstick and gossips about the same boys. When you get older, the notion of a friend changes. A friend is someone who is always there for you, no matter what. They're the person you call first with good news and the one to whom you would entrust your life without a second thought. Most importantly, a friend is someone who will never hesitate to tell you what they really think, or to tell you when they think something you’re doing is wrong for you. Thank you for always being a friend.

Above all: Thank you for continuing to fight the good fight, even when the fight isn’t very good to you in return.

Some people may not believe in heroes, but that only means that they haven’t yet met mine. I can never thank you enough for the things you’ve done for me, nor can I put into words how amazing I think you are. All I can say is, thank you for being you, and thank you for being mine. I love you more than Attila loves rides in the car, and we both know that’s a whole dang lot.