While I may not always show it, you should know how lucky I feel to be able to call you my parents.

I've had the privilege of knowing two people not only as my mom and dad but as my role models. You've done things I will never be able to thank you enough for and I will forever be grateful for it.

You have shown me what it means to put others before myself.

I have grown up having everything I could every need and want, while there have been a countless number of times you have found yourselves without. Of course, when I was younger it was never something I was able to fully realize, but it is something I'm able to recognize now that I'm older.

Buying us new school clothes every year, while you wore the same worn out pieces day in and day out. Driving us whenever and wherever we needed to go, regardless of the fact that you just wanted to rest after a full days work. Making sure you came to every school event, even if it meant taking an extra day off and losing some much-needed income.

No matter what it was, you did whatever you needed to so that we were able to have it. I was fortunate enough to have my parents there for everything, and I would never change that for the world.

You may have had some struggles with money, but that never stopped you guys from helping me when I needed it.

Whether it be paying for car insurance while I'm in college or scraping up extra money so that I am able to have the tools I need, you made sure money was never an issue I had to worry about. You instilled the values of how important it is to work for what I have, to earn every single thing that I have.

You taught me to start a summer job early so that I would be able to buy my first car or have the experiences I wanted. While you guys may have faced your own struggles, you never let those struggles fall down on me.

Even when I thought I couldn't do something, when I felt like I wanted to give up, you believed in me.

You always saw, and still see to this day, a potential in me that sometimes I don't even see in myself. When I struggle with seeing my own capabilities and only see the things I can not do, you guys are right there to remind me of what I can do. All I ever want to do is make you proud because you have done nothing but believe in what I can do.

While sometimes we argue and butt heads, you have to know how much I appreciate having you both as my parents.

Just knowing there are people out there without people like you in their lives is sad because I couldn't imagine a life without you in it. Thank you for everything you have done for me, and everything you still have yet to do for me. Thank you for being my role models in a world that doesn't seem to have enough of them.