Open Letter to my Mom on Mother’s Day

Mom-

Happy Mother’s Day and, in our case, happy best friend’s day, happy thank-you-for-everything day, happy favorite person on the planet day.

I would say that we don’t always see eye to eye, but we do. I would say that you haven’t always stood behind my crazy ideas, but you have. So instead, I’ll just say thank you.

Thank you for staying up all night with me throughout my whole life, from when I was a newborn and got the midnight munchies, to when I was fifteen and was so sick that I couldn’t breathe, to now … when I text you asking you to magically fix everything that’s wrong at 3 a.m.

Thank you for my awesome taste in music (although dad helped with this one a bit, too). Thank you for all the concerts, from Jonas Brothers to Counting Crows to obscure bands that played in our small-town concert venue.

Thank you for reading all of the Harry Potter books aloud to me, even when I was far old enough to read them to myself. Thank you for not closing the books and sending me to bed when I screamed about Dumbledore dying (I still don’t think I over-reacted).

Thank you for taking every scary situation and turning it into an ‘adventure’ that we were exploring together. I never knew that you were just as scared as I was, but I always knew you were infinitely braver than I can ever be.

Thank you for always having my back. Thank you for advising me against some pretty bad decisions, keeping clam when I did exactly the opposite of what you suggested, and still consoling me when everything backfired. Thank you for never being the “I-told-you-so” mom.

Thank you for teaching me that things aren’t always as they seem – whether that’s good or bad – and that nothing lasts forever.

Thank you for the midnight movies, the walks through a snowy New York City, and the after-school ice cream dates.

Thank you for breakfasts-for-dinners, picnics in the park, and all of the gallons of chicken soup when I was sick.

Thank you for being the glue between my fault lines, the icing on my cake, the best and brightest light in my life.

There are a million and ten more thank-you’s that I could say, but even if I thanked you every minute of every day for the rest of time, it wouldn’t even come close to all the thanks that you deserve.

I love you to the moon,

Munchkin

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