Not everyone has the kind of relationship with their mom that I have with mine. I feel very blessed to have such a caring and loving person in my life, someone I know I will always be able to go to for advice or someone simply just to talk to, on both the good and the bad days.

My mom and I haven’t always had the best relationship, the kind of one we have now. We definitely fought our fair share of battles while I was growing up. Her work seemed to take her away from our family a little more than we would have all liked. Even today it’s safe to say that she is still just as busy as ever. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to admire her hard work so much more. She is the owner of an incredible, successful company, and she has been able to support our family through the many obstacles that life has given us. And while her work schedule is hectic and running a business is certainly not easy, my mom never lets that stop her from caring for the people around her. She always makes times for the ones she loves.

In the last couple of years I’ve noticed that my mom has made an honest effort to be more involved in events that take place in my life. And it’s not like she wasn’t involved before, she always tried her best to be at things that were important to me. But as I grew older, it was nice to see her taking time away from work to enjoy the things that were important to her.

She never missed a single one of my softball games my senior year, and she was always volunteering to run concessions and bring food for team breakfasts. She was there to watch me play the greatest game I had ever played, and she traveled across the state to watch my team win the state tournament, something she hadn’t been able to do in previous years. Sharing that experience with her is something that I will always hold on to. Even today, being away at college, it’s nice to get texts from her every Friday night, updating me on the score of my brother’s lacrosse games.

My mom is the type of mom who spent eight hours in a car on a Wednesday just to come surprise me and give me a quick hug and decorate my apartment for my 20^th birthday. That night, long after she had left and was back at home, I couldn’t help but tear up as I thought about how lucky I am to have her in my life. The fact that she went out of her way just to make my birthday away from home a little easier than it would have been without her, meant more to me than she will ever know.

So Mom, thank you so much for absolutely everything. Thank you for being the greatest mom and one of my greatest friends in the whole wide world. I miss you more and more every day. Love you to pieces!