For My Mom

Dear Mom,

Thank you for carrying me around with you for nine months, for enduring swelling ankles, achy back, leg cramps, skin breakouts, and everlasting body changes for me. Thank you for giving me life.

Thank you for my first kiss, my first hug, my first snuggle. Thank you for your loving touch.

Thank you for teaching me my name, the alphabet, how to read. Thank you for instilling a curiosity and a love of learning in me.

Thank you for never once commenting on my physical body, the way I wore my hair or makeup, or my choice in clothes. Thank you for teaching me that I'm great just the way I am.

Thank you for always saying 'Be a doctor, don't marry a doctor.' Thank you for guiding me to be a strong, confident, independent woman like you are.

Thank you for trips to the ballet, the theater, the museum, the guitar lessons. Thank you for introducing me to a lifelong love of the arts.

Thank you for driving me back and forth to softball and basketball practices and games, for buying me all of the equipment I needed, for spending your weekends sitting on bleachers, cheering me on at every single game. Thank you for helping me appreciate my body for what it can do, not for what it looks like, and for being my biggest fan.

Thank you for making me clean my room, help around the house, go grocery shopping, and do my own laundry. Thank you for giving me the basic skills I needed to live on my own and take care of myself.

Thank you for keeping me from watching Dirty Dancing when I was 12, for making me wait to get my ears pierced, for not letting me wear makeup too early or get highlights too young. Thank you for extending my childhood.

Thank you for disagreeing with me so often, for questioning me, for challenging my thinking. Thank you for opening me up to consider other points of view.

Thank you for the sacrifices you made to send me to Catholic schools. Thank you for introducing me to God.

Most importantly, thank you for the warm feeling I have inside of me every time I think of you. I know that feeling is love. And since you were the first person to ever love me, I thank you for teaching me how.

Love,
Andrea