Dear Mom, thank you for everything. Thank you for raising me to be the man I am today and for always pushing me to work hard and follow my dreams. You are the most important and loved person in my life and I want you to know that. I don't know how I can ever repay you for everything you've ever done for me, but I plan to make you proud and work my hardest to be a man you'd want me to be. You are honestly one of the most loving, patient, kind, and caring mothers I have ever seen. I'm not just saying that because you're my mother, you honestly are one of the most genuinely loving people I've ever had in my life. You have never once hit me, lost your patience with me, put me down, or made me feel bad, not even once. You have done nothing but provide me with constant care, love, protection, guidance and growth, and I wouldn't want any other woman to raise me. I now appreciate the things about you that I took for granted before I left to college. I now appreciate the fact that you would constantly call me to check up on me and see where I was or what I was doing, even though I was extremely annoyed by it when I was younger. I now see that you were only trying to keep me safe and you were doing your job as a mom. You are the strongest woman I know. You raised us on your own for a number of years and worked multiple jobs a day to make sure your children were well fed. I remember you waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning each day to get to your first job, then you would pick us up from school and cook us dinner and you would have to head off to your next job. I'm pretty sure you only got around 4 or 5 hours of sleep each night, but you would never know because you were always in such a positive and loving mood towards everyone. You have done nothing, but the best in raising your children and I love you for it. I have so many great memories that you have given to me and I am so happy that God chose you to be my mom. I know that at times I could be a brat, I could act spoiled, I would take you for granted, or not treat you the way I should have. You still loved me unconditionally regardless of it all. I hope I can make it up to you someday. Mom, I don't know what I'd do without you. When I left for College I was excited about the thought of moving out and living on my own, being my own man, and being able to do whatever I want whenever I want; but leaving you behind and heading to college was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I thought that I'd have the world at my feet, but boy was I wrong. Turns out that being an adult can really suck sometimes. No more home cooked meals, no one to clean up after you, nobody to help you with laundry. Of course this isn't all I cared about and not the only reason I miss you, but it sure was convenient. I thought college would be full of road trips to Austin, Dallas, and Houston, but it turns out you need a little something called gas to make these road trips, and gas cost money. A lot of it too. So there's that. Also, I had this magic laundry fairy back home known as mom. Now most of the time my floor looks like a labyrinth of dirty t-shirts, pants, and socks and it's a miracle if I actually get up to do laundry every week. Though I do miss the things my mom would do for me, the things I miss the most are the little things. I miss having a friend to spend time with when everyone else was bus. I miss going everywhere with you and spending almost everyday with you. I appreciate the fact that you would be wiling to do anything it took to make sure your child was comfortable. I wouldn't be the man I am today without you and I definitely wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for your constant support of my dreams, passions, and ideas, no matter how absurd they were. Thank you mom, for everything. I am so glad Thanksgiving is this weekend and Christmas is only a few weeks after that. I can't wait to be back home and I definitely won't be taking that for granted this time.