Dear Mom

February 9, 2011 

(…well, a little before the 9th…)

My mother has grown through the years into one of my closest friends, the person who will tell me the searing truth, who laughs with me & cries with me, and who shows me a bright future for myself when I’m too rundown and broken to recognize it.

She is the woman who gave me applesauce and toast when I was sick, who drove me to endless tennis lessons, and who took a video of me when I was drugged up after my wisdom teeth were pulled.

My mom is the person I share a Mrs. Fields cookie with whenever we go to the mall.  She is the one who humored me when I said I wanted to join the Peace Corps…and she is one of two people who sobbed at the airport when I left.

(I was the other one.)

She taught me how to treat people with respect.  She’s the person who showed me the importance of being a strong, self-assured young woman.  Hell, she taught me how to tweeze my eyebrows!

So.

On this birthday, the first one in 20 years I won’t be able to say “Happy Birthday” in person - those first few years of my life don’t count, I couldn’t even talk! - this will have to do.

I’m not sure I’ve ever fully articulated just how thankful I am to have the mom that I do. To have a mom that I love, and trust, and miss terribly when we aren’t in the same place.  But I am - so very thankful - and I just wanted to say:

Happy Birthday Mom.

I love you so much.

T