Thank you, Mom, for bringing me into the world. For bringing me into the world with a twin sister so I’d have an automatic best friend. Thank you for reading to me and encouraging playtime, so I gained a natural curiosity. Thanks for dressing me and my twin sister in matching outfits because even though it was torture then, those pictures sure are great now. Thanks for not getting cable until I was 17 so I’d have to read a book or go outside.
Thanks, Mom, for taking away my cell phone when my sister and I got into a brutal fight over a pair of jeans. Thanks for taking away my keys and making me ride the bus to school when I mouthed off. For assuring me my horrible acne wasn’t really that bad, and for going to extreme measures to ensure I’d be clear-skinned for prom. Thanks for pushing me to play sports, but not in a yell-at-me-if-I-messed-up kind of way. Thank you for putting up with me and my siblings through our semi-angsty teenage years; it must’ve been hard to go through four of them.
Thank you, Mom, for helping me buy a new car and for helping pay for college. Thanks for encouraging me to try out different activities so I could figure out where I wanted my life to go. Thanks for not trying to be my best friend, and for figuring out the authority figure/comrade balance. For not yelling at me when I had pink streaks in my hair, or when I preferred heavy black eyeliner and no other makeup.
Thanks, Mom, for being a cool mom and not a regular mom, and for knowing if that shirt is “my” color or if that dress would make me look skinny. Thanks for being such a role model so I can strive to be even half the person you are. Thanks for never letting me sleep in; now I know not to waste my day in bed. Thank you for introducing me to gel manicures (I can’t stop) and for supporting my makeup habit (addiction.)
Thank you, Mom for loving me unconditionally even though I’m far from perfect.